Leave It All
by rrand06
Summary: On a quest that might change the past, Andros and the other Astrorangers go on a dangerous journey to retrieve an ancient artifact before Dark Specter and Astronema can. Andros/Ashley, Zhane/Cassie, Tommy/Kim Power Rangers not mine.
1. Chapter 1

Ch 1

_"Andros?"_

_Andros began rolling himself out from under his galaxy glider, knowing that any other response to the soft female voice on the other side of the room would result in a long discussion about how lack of communication had ruined her parents' marriage. But he was not reluctant to do so, as he was nearly done working and also knew that he would be greeted with a kiss. As he slowly poked his head out from under the glider, he immediately received a kiss on the nose. _

"_Hello to you too," he said with a smile, scrunching up his face a little as her lips made contact with him._

"_Any luck?" she asked, sitting down on the cold floor to be closer to him._

"_Who needs luck?" he asked, picking up a tool and snipping some wires. "I've been fixing these things since I was a kid."_

"_You almost done?" she asked, playing with his hair a little as she swept the ends of it from the floor._

"_Almost," he replied, tightening a few screws. "Did you need me for something?"_

"_Well, I'll always need you," she said with a smile._

_Andros eyed her carefully before answering, placing his tools on the floor beside him. "You're up to something," he said slowly, returning the smile and moving the rest of his body from underneath the glider as her eyes drifted away from him. _

"_No, I'm not," she replied quickly, further raising his suspicions._

_Andros quickly scanned her with his eyes. There were no bruises or other injuries that he could see on her. But his eyes soon drifted to a small envelope in her hands. "What's that?" he asked._

"_What's what?" she asked, failing to hide the envelope in her hand._

"_The envelope," Andros said._

"_It's an envelope," she said simply, though she knew well that it would not be enough of an explanation._

_Andros smiled. "Did you want me to guess what it is?" he asked._

"_You'd never be able to guess," she muttered to herself. "This isn't for your eyes anyway."_

"_My name is on it."_

"_Not yours," she countered, putting her hand behind her back._

"_Arcadia," Andros began softly. "Is something wrong?"_

"_No," she answered too sweetly to be serious, meeting his eyes again when he took her hand in his. "Why would anything be wrong?" she asked, though she turned from him with tears in her eyes. They finally spilled over when she felt Andros thread his fingers through hers._

"_Arcadia, talk to me," he said. "What is it?"_

_Arcadia turned back to him, tightening her grip on his hand and wiping away her tears with a free palm. "I… I can't go through with this," she said much calmer than she felt, gently shaking her head from side to side._

"_With what?" he asked._

_She did not answer him, looking helplessly into his hazel eyes. But Andros was well aware of her thoughts and he let out a sigh._

"_You don't think that we can win either," he said sadly, releasing her hand. "Zhane doesn't either."_

"_That isn't what I said," Arcadia replied. "I hadn't even thought of that. But you know as well as I do that we won't win this war with Dark Specter without losing some of our own."_

"_Since when are you afraid to die for our people?" he asked as she scooted even closer to him and leaned her head onto his chest._

"_I'm not," she replied, closing her eyes as the rhythm of his heartbeat began to calm her. "But I don't want to lose you."_

_Andros wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a warm hug. "I'm not going anywhere," he said, stroking her light-brown hair. "How about you?"_

_Arcadia looked up at him and smiled a little. "It's not in the plan," she answered with a sigh. "But then again, loving you wasn't part of the plan either."_

_They sat silently for a moment, holding one another as they slowly rocked back and forth. Finally, Andros broke the silence._

"_You aren't going to tell me what's in the envelope, are you?" he asked._

"_Not yet," she replied softly. "Let's just do this for a while. The envelope can wait."_

***

"Andros?" a firm voice said suddenly, tearing Andros from his thoughts. "Ground Control to Andros?"

"Hm?" Andros replied, shaking himself from the remnants of his daydream and meeting Zhane's eyes.

"You were in your happy place, weren't you?" Zhane asked, rushing by him to get to the screen in front of Andros.

"Not really," Andros answered, not sure that he was lying about that. Back then, it had been a wonderful moment but now the shadows of that day continued to haunt him day and night. Arcadia had been gone for a year now and the pain that had followed her death still remained. There was little that did not remind him of her now. Even as Zhane moved from station to station pressing buttons, Andros could not help thinking about how the times that he would find Arcadia pacing the floor of the bridge whenever she was upset about something.

"Well, are you planning on helping me with this?" Zhane asked, hurriedly pressing a few buttons as he looked up at the main viewing screen.

Andros looked around the bridge of the ship, realizing only now that DECA's alarms were going crazy. He looked to the viewing screen in time to see a shuttle heading straight for them.

"They're going to hit us," Andros said, rushing over to the steering controls.

"I already tried that," Zhane said. "We won't be able to avoid them unless…"

"We aren't docking them onto the ship," Andros said, shaking his head.

"We don't exactly have a choice," Zhane said, just as DECA's alarm stopped suddenly. It was eerily quiet on the Astro Megaship for a long while. Neither of them moved an inch until Zhane broke the silence.

"What happened?" he asked, using DECA's scanners to survey the outside of the ship.

"DECA docked the shuttle," Andros sighed, looking at the console in front of him before glaring at the small camera in the top corner of the room.

"The four intruders have been identified as human," DECA informed.

"They're not intruders if you dock them onto the ship," Zhane said, rolling his eyes and turning to Andros. "We should probably go find them before they find us."

"You think they might be dangerous?" Andros asked, opening a compartment in the console behind him and removing an Astro Blaster from it.

"They're human," Zhane answered with a shrug. "You're going to blast them if they are?"

"DECA's scanners have been wrong before," Andros replied, though he changed the blaster's setting to its lowest as he followed Zhane to the Megalift.

Only a year had passed since DECA's first mistake of that kind, when three supposed humans had been docked onto the ship after sending out a distress signal. His friends' endless trust had resulted in asking them to stay on the ship until the necessary repairs were done. No one was more surprised than Andros when he awoke the next morning to find that their ship had been taken over by three of Dark Specter's toughest monsters and that his teammates were powerless to stop them. Even after they had found a way to land and corner the monsters on the planet of Wateth, the Astrorangers were no match for them and they fell one by one. Several minutes later, only Andros and Zhane opened their eyes again to their fallen friends and a damaged Astro Megaship.

So Zhane knew why Andros had to be so cautious, but even DECA had told them that the odds of her making the same error again was one in one hundred thousand. Even _his_ first thought had been to grab a blaster but these were just humans, likely confused about their shuttle being swallowed up by the large ship and just as worried about who or what they might find behind every door that opened.

"DECA, where are they?" Andros asked, playing with the setting on the blaster as the Megalift seemed to take forever to move.

"Two are on Megadeck Four," DECA replied. "The other two are Megadeck Two."

"I'll take the ones on M-2," Andros said. "You get the ones on M-4."

"Hold on," Zhane said as the Megalift stopped on M-2 and changing the setting on Andros' blaster with a frown. "You're not 'taking' anyone. Use words first."

"Words got our friends killed," Andros hissed at him, though he kept the setting on his blaster.

"Firing on them first can get us killed too," Zhane replied. "And words didn't kill our friends… and being nice didn't either. If talking with them is completely out of the question, then call me on your communicator and I'll help you. Don't use your weapon."

"Fine," Andros said as the Megalift opened and he slowly walked down the hallway toward the infirmary, keeping his blaster by his side until the doors closed again and Zhane was out of sight.

The diplomatic approach was fine for someone like Zhane who could talk to just about anyone, but words did not always work for Andros nor did he want them to. Actions spoke louder than words and these humans would know from the moment that they saw him that this was his ship and that he was not a person to mess with. Although, as he continued down the hallway with his blaster pointed in front of him, he wondered if there was a chance that the humans were only wandering the ship trying to find a way off of it.

Andros stood waiting by the entrance to the infirmary, hearing something clatter to the floor just inside. He let out a breath and glanced quickly into the room with his blaster ready. The two humans inside stood turned away from him, having not heard him behind them, picking up the tray of bandages and scissors that had fallen to the floor.

"Ashley, be careful," the dark-haired male whispered as he steadied the tray onto its legs as she placed the scissors onto it.

"It was an accident, Carlos," Ashley said softly, grabbing up the rolls of bandages that were by her feet and placing them onto the tray. "But we _are_ looking for people on this thing, aren't we? Why are we being so quiet? If someone hears us, then maybe they can help us leave their ship."

"But if we scare someone, then they might think that we're the enemy," Carlos replied and Andros lowered his blaster a little. "And I don't know about you, but I don't want to have to fight my way out of here."

These were definitely humans. Monsters never went through the trouble of making up names amongst themselves. He stepped into the room and began walking to them, stopping in his tracks as the light-brown haired female in front of him caught his eye and his blaster fell from his hands. He opened his mouth to call out a name but nothing came out and he was glad that his mind had slightly more sense than his mouth. Even with the same hair color and body type, he knew that she was not and could not be Arcadia. And as the humans turned to him, he was able to convince himself further that she was not Arcadia.

"Who are you?" Carlos asked, narrowing his eyes at him as he glanced down at the blaster on the floor.

"You're on _my_ ship," Andros said, finding his voice again as he tore his eyes away from her. "Who are you?"

"I'm Ashley and this is Carlos," Ashley answered. "And we don't want any trouble."

"Then, what _do_ you want?"

"A way off of your ship," Carlos replied. "Or a ride to Kor'es."

"Why would you want to go to Kor'es?" Andros asked. "There's nothing out there."

"Dimitria told us that –"

"Dimitria?" Andros interrupted. "You're Power Rangers?"

Carlos and Ashley exchanged a glance briefly and Ashley stepped forward. "We're the Turbo rangers from Earth," she said. "But we lost our powers and programmed our shuttle for Inquiris to look for Dimitria."

"She told us that Dark Specter was after some ancient relic on Kor'es," Carlos continued. "Maybe as far as _you_ know, there's nothing out there but she'd have no reason to lie to us. And we plan on going."

"What did she say was out there?" Andros asked, still avoiding eye contact with Ashley as much as possible as his eyes continued to lie to him with every tiny glance.

"Can we expect any help from you?" Carlos asked.

"Excuse me?"

"If you aren't going to help us, then we aren't going to tell you anything," Carlos said, folding his arms. "You know about Dimitria, so you must be a ranger too. If you're willing to help us, we'll tell you whatever you want to know."

"Believe me, I'd like nothing more than to be rid of you, your shuttle, and your friends," Andros replied. "But if you couldn't avoid colliding with this ship, maybe there's something wrong with your steering. Zhane and I can check out your shuttle and send you on your way if that's what you really want."

"Is it just the two of you here?" Ashley asked.

"Yes," Andros answered, turning from them and motioning for them to follow him to the Megalift. But when he turned around, they had not moved. "I'll take you to your friends now."

"Before we follow you to wherever," Ashley began, wringing her hands a little. "Could you at least tell us your name?"

"Andros," he said simply as he exited the room and opened the Megalift doors and waited until he heard their hurried footsteps behind him before turning back to them.

* * * * *

Zhane took his time walking down the corridor toward the exercise room, not wanting to scare the humans that he could hear whispering to one another.

"How did we get here?" a female voice asked with a sigh. "I mean, what if we can't find anyone here? How do we leave?"

"We'll deal with that when we get to it," a male voice responded. "But we know that there is intelligent life on this ship or else we wouldn't be here right now. We just have to find them."

"Or it," she replied. "It could be a monster trying to trick us or something."

"Or just two humans with a mission from Zordon," Zhane said, making them jump as he stepped into the room. They looked warily at him for a moment, determining him to be friendly when he smiled a little.

"I'm Zhane," he continued, walking up to the black-haired female whose almond-shaped eyes took his breath away and smiling. "And you are?"

"I'm Cassie," she said, failing to control her blushing cheeks. "This is T.J."

"It's very nice to meet you," Zhane replied, lightly kissing her hand before releasing it. "So, what brings you to our ship?"

"'Our' ship?" T.J. asked.

"My friend Andros and I," Zhane explained. "We're the Red and Silver Astrorangers. And based on the uniforms that you two are wearing, I'd bet that you just came from… Inquiris?"

Cassie and T.J. glanced down at their white pants and jackets that covered their shirts that were pink and red, respectively.

"How can you know that from a uniform?" T.J. asked.

"Inquirians are kind of picky about who can just walk into certain buildings," Zhane replied with a shrug. "They won't allow anyone in to see Dimitria unless they are… I believe the phrasing they use is 'bathed in white'."

"We were Power Rangers on Earth," T.J. explained with a nod. "But Divatox destroyed our command center and we traveled to Inquiris to see about getting some new powers. But when we arrived, Dimitria told us that there were no other ranger powers that she could give us."

"But she said that there was some ancient something or other that we could use to get our powers back," Cassie said, trying not to grin as Zhane continued to smile at her. "She said that we should look for it on Kor'es. Does that sound right to you?"

Zhane's smile finally faded enough to answer her. "There isn't much of anything on Kor'es," he said. "Just dirt and sand. But I've never heard of anything that can give a ranger their powers back."

"We aren't entirely clear on everything yet either," T.J. replied. "But if you release our shuttle, we can stop intruding on your ship."

"Actually, knowing that you're former rangers and everything… Andros and I wouldn't mind getting you there and helping you out any way that we can," Zhane said. "After all, without your powers, you might need some help getting there without worrying about being followed. In fact, maybe you guys would be interested in the other four Astro –"

"What are you doing?" Andros asked suddenly from behind him with Ashley and Carlos following close behind him. "I volunteered to look at their shuttle, not invite them to stay forever."

"Oh, come on, Andros," Zhane replied. "They're Power Rangers too and they're going to need help getting to Kor'es. It'll be a one year voyage in that shuttle no matter what we do to it. For us, it'll be a month or two… Besides, there are four of them and four Astromorphers."

"I can't believe that you'd give away Camilla's morpher just like that," Andros said, shaking his head.

Zhane lowered his eyes with a sigh. "It isn't hers anymore," he said quietly. "Our old team is gone… and these guys need our help."

"No," Andros said firmly, looking at the two rangers he had not met yet. "I'll take a look at your shuttle and I'll even agree to get you close enough to Kor'es to shorten your voyage… but no morphers."

Andros turned to walk away, inadvertently meeting eyes with Ashley and he quickly cut his eyes away from her. "No morphers," he said again, breezing past her just as quickly.

**Author's Note: _My next attempt at a story inspired by Bellavision's... vision. :) I hope that I find a way to do it justice. It'll be a long one, but not fifty chapters long (as far as I can tell so far). _**


	2. Chapter 2

Ch 2

"No, like this," Zhane said, turning a large knob on a console as Cassie and Carlos looked on from the other side. The former Turbo rangers had been on the ship for ten hours now and Andros had insisted that they earn their keep in exchange for any help he and Zhane gave them. The rangers were happy to do anything they could, even though they were not very familiar with space or Astro Megaship system check functions.

"First, turn the knob to 7-F, then press the numerical sequence on the clipboard – 03741, which checks the Megalasers," Zhane explained, as he pressed the sequence. "See? Now, you can check the next one."

Cassie looked down at the clipboard in front of her, pressing the next sequence of numbers on the console, glancing up at Zhane with question marks in her eyes. She relaxed a little when Zhane nodded in approval.

"It's pretty easy," Zhane said. "It just takes some getting used to."

"And you have to go through this list everyday?" Carlos asked him, flipping through the eight pages of number sequences. "You must spend all day doing this."

"It can take up to a couple of hours once I really get going," Zhane replied with a shrug. "But some sequences don't have to be run daily. Like this one." He pointed at the last page of sequences. "These have to be run every six days, unless we receive significant damage to the ship."

"Does DECA ever do this stuff?" Carlos asked.

"We try to leave the steering and defenses to DECA," Andros replied dryly, walking onto the bridge, followed by T.J. and Ashley. "Besides, DECA's programming is one of the systems on the list. If she malfunctions, then all of her system checks could give false results."

"How'd your tour go?" Zhane asked him, looking at the downcast eyes of the rangers behind him.

"It went," Andros replied with a shrug. "Are the rest of the system checks done yet?"

"All except a few," he answered. "I was showing Cassie and Carlos how to do that."

"Get them done now," Andros said firmly. "I don't even know why we're wasting time showing these guys how to do everything. They won't be here that long."

"I'm showing them because you told me to," Zhane argued. "The last system checks are on the Simudeck and the Megalasers. And they were just fine when I checked them yesterday, so why is it so important that I do it right now?"

"Since when is it not important to run system check functions?"

"Andros, relax," Zhane said, raising his voice a little. "It'll get done, okay?"

Andros shook his head and left the bridge with a sigh. "I'll be in the space hatch," he muttered before disappearing around a corner.

Zhane glanced over at the others, all of whom avoided eye contact. "Sorry about that," he said. "Andros is just being… Andros."

"Is he always like that?" Ashley asked, looking up at him.

"Yeah, ever since we lost our team about a year ago," Zhane said with a nod. "He's been kind of paranoid about strangers since then. He just doesn't want to be… right again."

"Right about what?" T.J. asked.

"Oh, that's right," Zhane said. "I didn't tell you about the other Astroranger team… Well, we should probably talk about that some other time… So, where'd he take you guys?"

"He showed us where we'd be sleeping and where to wash the one uniform that we're wearing now," Ashley said, rolling her eyes.

"Basically, he wants to make sure that we're as uncomfortable as possible so that we'll leave sooner," T.J. said. "He even wants us to share rooms."

Zhane shook his head. "You don't have to share rooms," he said with a sigh. "And I'll get you something else to wear even if we have to take you back to Earth to grab a few things."

Zhane motioned for them to follow before leaving the bridge for the Megalift, a look of defiance and determination on his face. He walked down the corridor until he reached a dead end around a corner and slid open a panel in the wall, revealing three drawers and pulling out four gray uniform jackets and pants from one drawer and four different color tops from another. He turned back to the others and handed them out.

"You don't mind wearing blue for a while, do you T.J.?" Zhane asked.

"After two days in the clothes I'm wearing now, I'll wear pink if I have to," T.J. answered with a smile.

"Is he going to be okay with us wearing these?" Ashley asked, though she could not hide her excitement about having any type of new clothes.

"He's going to have to be okay with it," Zhane said with a sigh. "It's been a year. It's time to move on."

Zhane walked past the rangers and back around the corner, glancing up at DECA's camera in the corner of the ceiling. "DECA, unlock all of the bedrooms," he said, hearing the doors whoosh open as he turned back to them. "These are your new rooms. Feel free to do whatever you need to do in there. Let me or DECA know if you need anything… And if Andros has anything to say, tell him that I'll be on the bridge and that you'll be in your rooms as long as you feel like it."

As the rangers walked into their new rooms and the doors closed behind them, Zhane walked back to the Megalift and headed for the bridge with a smile. Andros would probably blow a fuse or two when he saw the others, but he decided very quickly that he did not care. Time had more than healed his wounds and should have done the same for Andros by now. But then, Zhane was not quite as emotional as his friend could be nor had he suffered as many losses. His sister's kidnapping nearly fourteen years ago had taken its toll as well as the loss of the four Astrorangers.

Zhane sat in his seat and let out a breath as he continued to perform system checks, letting his mind drift from work to Andros and back. He could guess why Andros refused to let himself move on. Arcadia had been his fiancée after all and Andros had loved her ever since they had met six years earlier. And after her death, Andros had carried around an envelope that he had found on his desk in his jacket pocket every day since then. Based on how distant Arcadia had seemed before then, Zhane had always assumed that she had broken up with him in a letter.

But it was not her style to do such a thing, Zhane determined as he shook his head. And it was even less likely that Andros would keep something like that a secret from him. He was almost sure of that. Regardless, a year had passed and it was now time to begin trusting people again. And that would not happen unless Andros willingly let go of that envelope.

***

Ashley jumped a little as the bedroom door closed behind her, allowing her eyes to travel quickly around the room with a sigh. The gray walls of the bedroom were wallpapered with photos of several people, most of them in Astroranger uniforms. She quickly skimmed as many as she could, her eyes landing specifically on those with a genuinely happy Andros. She smiled back a little whenever she came across the pictures, knowing that it would probably be the only time that she would see him smile as long as she and the others were there and especially once he saw them in the Astroranger uniforms.

She walked over to her bed, placing the uniform onto it and staring at it for a moment. She could not help thinking that she would be wearing yellow for the rest of her life and it brought a smile to her lips. A morpher would be nice too, she thought to herself as she changed into the uniform. But she knew that Zhane was probably thinking about how to accomplish just that.

Ashley sat on her new bed for a while, taking a few minutes to admire the stars that zipped past the small window behind her. She wondered how boring something like that would seem to Zhane and Andros. They had probably been rangers for years and had seen enough of space to find it pretty mundane. It might not then have been a stretch to believe that maybe Andros' attitude might be partly attributed to the incessant boredom of traveling through space. Perhaps he even began to tire of being a ranger after the other Astrorangers had been…

Ashley shuddered at the thought. She had never heard of rangers losing their lives before. Four Astrorangers had died and now she and the others wanted the same powers that had failed the rangers before them. Powers were supposed to protect rangers –that was why they were called powers. But as the thought replayed in her head, she began to feel foolish. After all, she and the others had just lost their own powers through little fault of their own. And their powers had not failed to protect them; they just were not enough to win.

She shook her head and stood from the bed, not especially comfortable in her room anymore as she continued to look at the pictures of strangers on the wall. She was in someone else's room, even if that person would never return. And the more she thought about it, the more it bothered her and she finally walked out of the room. She made her way to the Megalift, pressing the button for the space hatch where she knew that Andros was working on the shuttle. It just did not seem right to surprise him with the Astroranger uniforms. It was best to tell him now and get it over with. Besides, she was curious to know how he would react.

All she could hear was the clanking of a tool with the shuttle's metal frame as she quietly walked toward Andros, ready to be scolded or yelled at by him at any moment. But he only continued to work silently, glancing her way once to acknowledge her presence without stopping his work. As she stood just as silently a few feet away from him, he finally let out a sigh and spoke.

"Did you need something?" he asked flatly, keeping his eyes on the open panel in front of him.

"I was just… you know, passing through," Ashley began with a shrug. "I wanted to make sure that you were okay with us… you know…"

"You wanted to know if I'd be okay with Zhane giving you the rooms and uniforms of our friends," Andros suggested, bending down to exchange one tool for another.

"How did you know –?"

"I know Zhane," Andros replied. "Whenever I say no, he misinterprets it as a yes. And I knew that once you or T.J. told him about the rooms and clothes, he would give them to you anyway."

"So… are you?" Ashley asked softly.

"Am I what?"

"Are you okay with it?" Ashley asked. "I mean, you say that you knew it would happen but are you okay with it?"

"Am I okay with you guys wearing the uniforms of my dead friends?" Andros asked bluntly. "Not really, but I suppose that it'd be more convenient for the rest of you so… do what you think is best."

"That's not why we –"

"Of course it is," Andros interrupted loudly. "But I can't imagine that any of you would care what it'll do to me seeing you guys in those uniforms. And it would be worse to see you morphed, which is likely just around the corner. Unfortunately for me, I have a best friend that takes none of my feelings into account when he makes these decisions so… 'Am I okay'? Not especially and that's probably a question that you should have asked me _before_ you so readily accepted the last clothes my friends ever wore."

Ashley stared at him silently, not knowing how to respond to him. He was angry and somehow he was not. His motions never changed as he turned screws and fiddled with wires in the shuttle's panel. And he did not sigh again until he glanced back to find her still standing behind him.

"Did you need something else?" he asked.

"Not really," Ashley replied with a shrug. "There isn't much to do right now though. Did you need any help here?"

"If you could fix a shuttle, you wouldn't be here now," he said. "How is it that you think that you can help?"

"Well, I could always hand you tools," Ashley said with a small smile. "I'm pretty good at handing people things. And if you want, I won't say one word."

"I'm skeptical to believe that you're capable of zero speech for longer than a few minutes," Andros said, still turned away from her.

"Why is that?" Ashley asked, sure that he could not be joking with her.

"Someone that goes out of their way just to get approval on clothes, is rarely a quiet person," Andros explained.

"I didn't go out of my way."

"You were just 'passing through'," Andros said, smiling a little to himself. "But there isn't anything else in the space hatch, so I have to wonder _why_ you were just passing through?"

"Okay, okay," Ashley said with a giggle. "I wanted to see if I could help you with anything. You seem very upset about us being here and I just wanted to know if… if there was any chance that we could all be friends someday."

"Do you really think that would be a good idea?" Andros asked. "I mean, you guys will be here for a week or two depending on how much time I'll have to devote to your shuttle. Why get attached?"

"I used to think that way," Ashley said, walking up to him and bending down to pick up a tool that he had begun to reach for to hand to him. "Like when I was twelve, I went to cheerleading camp for a few weeks and thought that I'd never be able to make friends there. But the girls there were so nice and I had a great time doing all the activities and everything. And I couldn't have had such a great time without making a few friends."

"You still talk to them?" Andros asked, looking down as he gently took the tool from her hands.

"A couple of them," Ashley answered with a nod. "And I'll never know when I might need their help with something later. So, friends are good to have."

"I had friends," Andros said, turning back to the shuttle. "I met about thirty of them on this ship just five years ago. Then our planet was attacked and Astroranger training seemed too difficult for them. Some of the best fighters dropped out first, choosing to save themselves instead of our friendship. I didn't much blame them for that and we all promised to stay friends and they were to serve as alternates for the powers if anything happened to us."

"You couldn't find them?" Ashley asked.

"Some of them decided that they didn't want to be found," Andros said softly. "And the few that were, wanted nothing to do with the morphers after what happened to the other rangers."

"So, you're going to let what they did determine whether or not it's worth it to make friends?"

"No," Andros replied with a sigh. "I know now that most of them were just my teammates. But I can let what they did determine whether or not I offer the morphers to anyone else… If humans trained to use the Astromorphers ran away from them without shame, then why would I give the morphers to humans that weren't trained to use them?"

"Because we wouldn't run away from them," Ashley answered. "We know the weight of responsibility that comes with morphers and we can handle it."

Andros was quiet again for a while, knowing that she was probably right but focusing too much on his work to care. Finally he glanced back at her again, handing her the tool again before speaking. "No morphers," he said firmly. "But if Zhane and I… if we feel like we may need your help in the future, I'm sure that we'll let you know."

Ashley smiled at him in response, glad that he was at least trying to attempt some form of friendliness even if it was minor. But as he turned to her, looking into her face for the first time since she had been standing there, he suddenly frowned and cast his eyes away from her.

"I really don't need any help with this," he said to her, taking the tool from her again. "Maybe you should go and get used to your room."

"Are you sure?" Ashley asked, dropping her hands to her sides in defeat. "I'm sure I can do something, even if it's just keeping you company."

"I'm used to working alone," Andros replied, holding out his hand to a long instrument across the room and watching Ashley gasp a little as it whizzed past her and landed into his outstretched hand. "See? I can handle it."

"Oh… well, okay," Ashley said softly, turning toward the doorway to the Megalift. Something had changed, she realized as she waited for the Megalift to open. He had reacted to something that she said or did. But she had not said anything wrong that she knew of and he had seemed fine until he looked at her. She had done something –that was the only explanation she could think of. Could he have really been turned off by her smile? Maybe smiling was offensive on his home planet; it would explain why he and Zhane seemed to be butting heads so much.

"Ashley?" she heard Andros call from the space hatch.

She turned around, still facing his back as he began attaching wires from the instrument in his hands to the shuttle. But she smiled as she realized that this was the first time that he had called her by name.

"Don't be afraid of your bedroom," he said. "It's yours for at least a week and you guys'll be no good to us if you can't get any sleep."

"Thanks," Ashley said as the Megalift finally opened and she stepped inside, catching him look back at her as the door closed.

He was definitely trying, she thought to herself as she reached her new bedroom and smiled. He was definitely trying.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch 3

_Andros opened his eyes to a familiar heaviness on his chest. _

_He glanced down and smiled when he found Arcadia's hair fanned across his chest and under his chin, her arm lightly wrapped around him. He smoothed her hair down a little as he moved it to relieve the itchiness around his neck. She moaned softly when he moved, falling silent again when he kissed the top of her head._

_He noticed immediately that she had a different smell than before. It was usually a smell of Ipshin, her favorite flower. Now, she carried an unfamiliar scent, sweeter than any flower he had ever known. He would have gladly stayed in bed, inhaling her scent until he was forced to begin working, but he slowly sat up and gently placed her head on the pillow beside him before standing from the bed._

_ He looked down at the crumpled mess of clothes that they had left lying in the middle of the floor and grabbed them all up, tossing her uniform onto her desk before slipping on his own. He stretched a little, catching sight of the red shirt that lay under Arcadia's uniform jacket. He sighed and looked down at himself, shaking his head as he pulled Arcadia's yellow shirt over his head and tossed it aside. As he reached for his own shirt, he heard a giggle from behind him._

"_Yellow just isn't your color, Andros," Arcadia said with a smile, giggling again when Andros tossed a piece of lint from his pants pocket at her. "Is that all you've got?"_

"_You'd have let me leave your room dressed like that, wouldn't you?" he asked, putting on his jacket._

"_Maybe not," she replied with a laugh unlike her own and Andros looked over at her, raising an eyebrow. _

"_Cade, we can't keep sleeping in each others' rooms," Andros said. "It's hard enough leaving without getting caught and then dealing with the others' whispering about us behind our backs."_

"_Oh, Andros," Arcadia began, sitting on the edge of the bed. "It's all harmless. You know that. They just like to see you agitated."_

"_But it's kind of embarrassing," Andros said with a sigh. "They just seem to know a little too much about us and I don't see how it is that you don't care."_

"_They're our friends," Arcadia said, standing from the bed and walking over to him. "And I don't care what they think they know about us."_

_She draped her arms around his neck and softly kissed his lips, pulling back from it only when he returned the kiss. She still smelled different, Andros' mind kept telling him as he was released from her embrace. She even sounded different as she sighed and pulled back from him. He finally looked at her again and gasped as his eyes met with those of another._

"_You," he said almost accusingly as Ashley smiled innocently back at him as he took a step back from her._

***

Andros opened his eyes as the sound of DECA's alarm blared into his room. He jumped up from his bed quickly, scrambling to get dressed as the alarm continued to shriek. Finally, he was presentable enough to run up the emergency ladder to the bridge. When he arrived, the others were already waiting for him.

"What's wrong?" Andros asked.

"Astronema," Zhane said, pressing several buttons at the rear station. "She's following the ship."

"What else is new?" Andros said with a sigh.

"Well, she's firing on us," Zhane said just as the ship violently jolted forward. "And we're surrounded by velocifighters."

"Why?"

"Because she's _evil_," Zhane replied impatiently. "You want to help us out a little?"

"Sorry," Andros muttered, taking a seat beside him and glancing behind him at the others who hurried to the other stations. "Do these guys know how to use everything?"

"They know enough," Zhane answered, standing next to Cassie who took a seat at his station. "Stand by, everyone."

Andros glanced to his right as a familiar scent caught his attention. It was the same as in his dream and was stronger once Ashley sat down beside him. So it _was_ her.

"Standing by," Zhane said as the ship jolted forward again. "Awaiting your orders, Andros."

"Right," Andros said, focusing on the screen in front of him. "Shields?"

"At ninety percent," Ashley said, scanning her console briefly. "Slight damage to the thrusters."

"Mega Lasers?"

"Armed," Cassie said.

"Can you get a lock on any of them?"

"They're moving too fast," Carlos said. "None of them are staying in range long enough to lock in."

"Aim the lasers upward and turn off the engines on my command," Andros said firmly, jerking forward in his seat as the Megaship was hit again.

"But then the shields won't be activated," Zhane said. "We really need those right now."

"If we don't take these things down, we lose the ship and our lives," Andros replied, locking eyes with him. "If you have another plan, I'm listening. But I have a plan right now that will ensure that we take down at least half of them."

Zhane silently looked around at the others, seeing the same concerns reflected on their faces. "Then, show me," he said to his friend.

With a look of gratitude, Andros turned back to his console. "Engines off on my command," he said before turning to Ashley. "Where are they?"

"They're circling us," Ashley said, looking down at her screen. "A few are flying over our heads. None below us."

"Engines off… now," Andros said as they were fired upon once more.

T.J. turned off the engines one by one and the ship slowly began to freefall downward.

"Entering the gravitational pull of the planet Halsan-125 in sixty seconds," Carlos reported.

"Come on," Andros muttered to himself. "Be predictable… be predictable…"

"Forty seconds," Carlos said.

"Aim the lasers manually," Andros commanded, turning to Cassie who quickly grabbed at the joystick on her console. "Angle at ninety-eight degrees."

"Thirty seconds," Carlos informed nervously.

"Turn engines on," Andros ordered, pressing a button on his console just as the engines whirred back on and the ship stopped its descent.

"We've exited Halsan-125's gravitational pull," Carlos said. "Still not able to lock onto the velocifighters. But they're now within range."

"Fire!" Andros commanded.

He watched on his own screen as the ship's lasers began firing in a complete circle, hitting a majority of the velocifighters within its range. His sigh was one of relief as the others celebrated a little.

"How many are left?" Andros asked.

"Seven of the fifteen sent are left," Ashley replied. "But they're retreating to the ship behind us."

"The Dark Fortress," Zhane said. "Can't imagine what that was all about."

As if on cue, the main viewing screen flashed and Astronema's image appeared. "New rangers?" she said with a smirk as she pushed her bright blue hair behind her shoulders. "That explains how you survived my attack."

"What do you want, Astronema?" Andros asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"You have recently come into possession of something that I want," she answered. "And you _will _hand it over sooner or later."

"And what is it that you think we have?" Zhane said.

"I do hate it when you play games," Astronema said, motioning to someone beyond the screen and smiling when the Astro Megaship was hit with another blast.

"Shields?" Andros asked, glancing over at Ashley's console.

"At seventy percent and dropping," Ashley replied.

"Sounds like you might not be able to handle too many hits to your ship right now," Astronema said. "So, I'll say it again… Hand over the Ka'ana Veo shards."

"We don't know anything about any shards," Zhane said.

Astronema only smiled again as two blasts from the Dark Fortress hit the Astro Megaship again. "I can do this all day," she said. "You can either hand them over to me or I can shoot your ship to the ground and have it searched later. Either way, I _will_ get those shards."

"Overall energy levels?" Andros asked as the screen went blank and another powerful blast hit the ship.

"Sixty-eight percent," T.J. answered. "And forty percent of it is in the engines."

"Divert all power to the engines and thrusters," Andros said. "Activate the Astro Thrusters and turn the ship around."

"Astro Thrusters online," Cassie said. "They're activated but running at eight-three percent efficiency due to damage."

"That's more than enough to get us out of here," Andros said. "Set a course for the Uni-2 galaxy."

"Course set," T.J. confirmed, placing his hands on the control joysticks beside him and pulling them back. "Hyper Rush 2 initiated."

The bridge was silent as they scanned the surrounding areas for the Dark Fortress and any remaining velocifighters. When they were certain that they had not been followed, they slowed their speed, sure that the ship's power would fade to nothing if it remained at Hyper Rush velocity.

"Great job, you guys," Zhane said after a while. "I knew that you'd catch on to everything pretty quick. What'd you think, Andros?"

"They were fine," he mumbled after letting out a long sigh, though the others did not seem bothered by it and were likely happy that he commented at all. "Ka'ana Veo shards… I wonder if that's what you were sent to find on Kor'es."

"It would explain why she'd think that we had them," Cassie said.

"Do you think that she knew to look for them on Kor'es?" Ashley asked.

"I doubt it," Zhane said. "I'm more curious to know how she found out about it in the first place."

"Me too," Andros agreed. "If the shards are the ancient things that we're looking for, why is Astronema after it now? It was there yesterday and months before that. And now she comes to us thinking that we have them for some reason. Why?"

"Should we research it?" Carlos asked with a shrug.

"No," Andros replied. "The ship's repairs come first. It shouldn't take more than a day or two to get things back to normal. Unfortunately, we don't have enough supplies to fix everything here."

"Do you think that there'd be any supplies for the ship on Earth?" Ashley asked. "According to the star chart, Earth is the closest inhabited planet to this galaxy."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Zhane said. "Andros?"

"Set a course for Earth," he ordered DECA reluctantly, getting from his seat and leaving the bridge. "I'm going to start on some of the repairs that I know we have supplies for."

"Did you need any help?" T.J. asked.

"No," Andros answered. "Run system checks before we get to Earth and make sure that we have information to compare it to when we're done fixing everything."

"No problem," T.J. said as Andros disappeared behind the Megalift doors.

"Is he gone?" Zhane asked looking over T.J.'s shoulder.

"He's gone," Cassie replied.

"Good," he said, hurrying to the panel on the wall and closing the bridge doors. He walked to the center station console and opened a compartment under it, pulling out a small box. "In the event that we get separated on Earth, you might want to have these."

Zhane opened the box, revealing four communicators and morphers.

"This is your way onto the ship if Andros and I aren't with you for whatever reason," Zhane explained. "DECA isn't to allow anyone without an Astromorpher onto the ship as long as we're not here and unfortunately that includes you guys. I personally trust you guys enough to leave you alone on the Megaship and it seems annoying to keep all the supplies with us until we all decide to teleport together. So now when you get things for the ship you can teleport them directly to the ship."

"You don't think he hates us enough for being here?" Carlos asked, though he put the communicator and morpher onto his wrist. "You want us to lie to him too."

"I don't think he hates you at all," Zhane said. "The attack today has assured me that Andros and I will be involved in your search on Kor'es, so you may as well be prepared to fight alongside us. We can use the Simudeck for training and…"

"And keep it a secret until we know that he won't kill you for this?" Ashley suggested.

"He was impressed by what he saw in you guys today," Zhane said. "And so was I. It won't take long for him to warm up to the idea of new Astrorangers. But until then, as long as we don't need you to fight, we can keep it between us for a little while."

"How long is 'a little while'?" Cassie asked.

"A week or so maybe," Zhane said. "But I'll tell him before then if I have to."

"And the lying?" Carlos asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Only by omission," Zhane said. "If he doesn't mention it, neither do you. I'd rather not keep it from him at all, but based on his reactions to you just being here… it's not exaggerating to say that he might try to kill me. But I think that he'll be happy about the decision itself, even if he isn't happy that I made it without him."

***

Six hours later, the Astro Megaship hovered within Earth's orbit and the rangers stood in the workbay, looking down at the mess of supplies that they had gathered and set onto the floor. NASADA had been generous in allowing the rangers to buy any equipment or tools on their account, with the promise that they would continue to protect the Earth of course. Only Zhane and Andros had morphed prior to speaking with NASADA, with Zhane looking nervously at the others when Andros called out 'let's rocket' and the others had reacted briefly. It was only when Zhane had reminded them that they should wait in the corridor outside the bridge that they remembered that Andros did not know about the morphers.

They had decided to split up the list of supplies and hurried around Angel Grove, looking for the seventy-eight materials of various uses and materials in every hardware store within the area. By the time they all met again, they were all too tired and hungry to start working right away. It was only Andros that needed convincing to go to the Penny Palace café for a bite to eat.

But they finally pulled him away from the Megaship and led him through the turmoil of people. As they walked, he seemed not to be very impressed with Earth, constantly comparing everything relatively new to him with something he had seen on KO-35. By the time they had all sat down at a table and ordered him a hamburger, which he could not help pointing out that was similar in appearance to a totim sandwich on KO-35, everyone was too hungry to force further conversation with him.

As Andros forced down the delicious and oiled thing that was called a hamburger, he let his mind wander to the sights around him. He knew that he was pushing the limits with the others, but he intended to torture them as long as he could. After all, they were keeping secrets from him and he could think of no better torture for a group of people than mental. Had they really thought that he would not see the morphers hanging out of their sleeves and pockets? Was he not supposed to recognize the communicators that he had repaired time after time for one reason or another?

But it was more painful for him to talk so much about home, if he could even call it that anymore. He had not seen KO-35 in several years and it hurt to remember anything good about it. Anything good was surely something that he experienced with Arcadia and she was gone now. Andros immediately shook himself out of his thoughts, knowing that now was not the time to focus on such sadness. He allowed his eyes to scan the café, listening briefly to the arguing couple a few tables away and the misbehaving children that did not seem far enough away. Finally, his eyes rested on a group of four people whispering to one another and passing around what appeared to be photographs.

"Did you know other rangers on Earth?" Andros asked, turning back to the others.

"Yes," Ashley answered, glancing around the room. "Why do you ask?"

"Were _they_ rangers?" he asked, nodding in the direction of the four people at the next table.

"How'd you know that?" Ashley asked.

"I know a ranger when I see one," Andros said, taking some joy in seeing her guilty expression.

"Tommy?" T.J. called out.

The man raised his head upon hearing his name and smiled when he was able to match the voice with a face.

"T.J., how've you been?" Tommy asked, clasping hands with him briefly.

"Great," T.J. answered. "We just thought that we'd try this new place out while showing a couple of new friends around."

Andros looked up at T.J. upon hearing the word 'friends,' wondering if he was just being polite.

"Andros, Zhane, this is Tommy," T.J. said. "And that's Adam, Aisha, and Rocky."

The three quiet people exchanged smiles and or friendly waves with one another, pushing back the photos that they had been examining prior to the interruption.

"Tommy…" Andros was muttering to himself quietly. "Tommy… "

"Oliver," Zhane nearly shouted, exchanging a glance with Andros. "Tommy Oliver."

"You're Tommy Oliver," Andros said almost in awe.

"You know me?" Tommy asked.

"Know you?" Andros said. "We know almost everything about you. You're one of the few Earth rangers that have become intergalactic legends."

"Um… wow," Tommy said, blushing a little. "I don't think that I've done anything worth telling about though."

"If the stories that we've heard are true, then you're all legends as far as we're concerned," Zhane replied.

"_Intergalactic_ legends?" Adam asked. "How do people know who we are?"

"Zordon used to brag about his Earth rangers all the time," Andros said. "He always sent transmissions about your progress as heroes to Eltar. Many of the things that he learned during your time as rangers were documented and used to train us."

"Like what?" Rocky asked.

"That the emotions that come from teenagers are always in their purest forms," Andros replied. "And those emotions, good or bad, can be a powerful weapon. Although, I'm sure that he probably knew that on his own."

The rangers all smiled at the memory of Zordon as the former rangers did the same. They wondered how much they should reveal about Zordon's kidnapping, unsure that it was worth worrying them about.

"You know, it's funny that we should run into you," Aisha said, handing Andros and Zhane the photos on the table. "You two have probably seen quite a few things in your lives, traveling to different planets and everything, right?"

"Sure," Andros answered with a shrug as he looked down at the pictures.

"Well, I was scuba-diving in an underwater cave recently," Tommy explained with a sigh. "And I was able to capture something that I saw there on film. I could take a guess as to what they are, but I couldn't be sure. I didn't want to move them, but I hated to leave them if they might be something dangerous."

Zhane and Andros looked at the photos carefully, holding several of them close to their faces as they attempted to make out a word on the five items pictured. They appeared to be dark bands with a flat metal buckle with a triangular emblem on the front in different colors.

"They look like morphers," Zhane said, handing the pictures back.

"They say 'Veo' on them," Andros added, handing the photos in his hands back as well. He turned to Zhane sharply. "Didn't Astronema mention some Veo shards?"

"The Ka'ana Veo shards," Zhane nodded. "This is too strange to be a coincidence. Dimitria sends you guys after some ancient thing that will give you your powers back on Kor'es and then we get attacked because Astronema thinks that we have something ancient that we've never heard of before. Now we come here and you have pictures of morphers that we've never heard of. Three groups of rangers drawn to the same source of power –Veo."

"So they _are_ morphers?" Rocky asked. "Then, I'll see you guys later."

"Roc –" Tommy began.

"I agreed to come here to your meeting about these things you saw," Rocky interrupted. "But I told you from the beginning that I wasn't going to be a part of this again."

"A part of what?" a voice asked from beside him.

"Hey, Kim," Rocky muttered as he made his way to the door. "Bye, guys."

"Bye, Rocky," Kim said, locking eyes with Tommy. "What was that about?"

"Nothing," Tommy said quickly, receiving a knowing look from Kim. "It's nothing."

"Are you lying to me?" Kim asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "Because if you are –"

"It wasn't 'nothing'," Tommy confessed with a sigh. "But I didn't want to tell you until I was sure."

Kim looked from the table of old friends to the table of familiar faces and glared at Tommy. "You're doing ranger stuff again, aren't you?" she asked.

"I wasn't sure that it was ranger stuff," Tommy said.

"Oh, yeah. I'm sure that you just got our friends together to talk about high school," Kim said sarcastically. "See you at home."

"Kim, wait," Tommy said, holding her back gently by her sleeve and turning her to him. "I wasn't going to make any major decisions without you… I really just wanted to be sure, Kim. I'm sorry that I didn't include you as soon as I found them. But you're included now and I won't agree to anything without your say so… if there's anything to agree to."

"Okay," Kim said, finding it too difficult to pout as long as he was looking into her eyes. "But no more secrets."

"I promise," Tommy said with a smile, leaning forward to kiss her.

The others looked away as the couple locked lips for only a moment. Ashley watched them dreamily, hoping that she would someday know a love as deep as theirs seemed to be. But her thoughts were immediately interrupted by a loud sigh from Andros. She doubted that he realized just how loud he had been. Even when the others looked at him, he had seemed to not notice.

"If there's nothing else," he began, standing from his seat. "We should get back to the ship. We have a lot of work to do."

Zhane watched as Andros walked out of the door, finally standing from his own seat with a sigh. "He's right. We have a day's work ahead of us and it's already nearly over. If we don't start now, we'll be too tired to do anything later," he said with a nod, motioning for the others to do the same before taking off his communicator and placing it on the table. "If we find out anything else about the Veo power, we'll let you know."

"And we'll do the same," Tommy replied. "Thanks."

Tommy sat back down at his table, offering Kim the seat beside him and taking her hand with a smile. She readily accepted it, gently grasping his fingers in her hand as she greeted Adam and Aisha.

"Hey, Tommy?" Kim asked, glancing back at the door.

"Yeah?" he replied, looking over the photos once again.

"Did they mention something about getting to a… ship?"


	4. Chapter 4

Ch 4

"You're thinking of a reason to say yes, right?" Tommy asked after another lengthy silence had passed between himself and his fiancée.

Even after Kimberly had forgiven him at the café for keeping the morphers from her, she had become unusually quiet when he had expressed his desire to retrieve them from the underwater cave. Asking her whether or not she was okay with him doing so was not necessary, as she had made a point to tell him, yet he did anyway if only to prove to her that her opinion mattered to him. Kim had sighed upon his leaving and he had asked her again if he should go, but she had only waved him off with another sigh, telling him that the morphers would be safer in his possession than with anyone else that she could think of.

And so he had left, a heavy feeling setting in as he drove to the beach that told him that Kim was not happy. She was not angry, he knew that much, but she was certainly annoyed with him. Her unhappiness was confirmed upon his return when he walked into their apartment and she stared silently at him as he greeted her, receiving no smile or frown, just an empty expression that made him wish that he had left the morphers where they had been.

Kim had gone for a walk then, a few hours passing before her return and his growing worry replaced by frustration when she refused to answer her cell phone. By the time she had walked into the bedroom door, Tommy had set up the morphers on the dresser, staring at them from his bed as he wondered how much trouble they were really going to be worth. But Kim had said nothing then, pausing as she passed by the morphers and clenching her jaw a little tighter.

So when Tommy asked her the first time, she did not answer right away, more or less because of the tension in her jaw. But she was more than ready with a response the second time.

"I'm not thinking of a reason to say yes, Tommy," Kim said calmly. "I'm thinking of a million reasons to say no."

"Nothing's written in stone that says that I have to use these morphers," Tommy said with a sigh. "In fact, I kind of hope that I don't have to."

"You are such a liar," Kim replied, shaking her head with a smile. "You know that your decision was made the day that you found those things. You're just thinking of a reason for _me_ to say yes."

"Kim, if you say no, I'll say no too," Tommy said, sitting up on the bed. "I won't even think about it anymore if you say no."

"Tommy," Kim began in the way that made Tommy feel a similar heaviness inside. "The truth is that… you don't really care what I think."

"That's not true," Tommy argued. "I'll always care what you think –about this, about everything."

"Tommy, there's a difference between respecting my feelings and caring what I think about something," Kim explained. "You're telling me that you won't use the morphers unless I say that it's okay because you think that I'll be mad at you if you don't. And I will, in case you might still be wondering. But that's you caring about how I feel and how it'll affect you. On the other hand, can you really say that you care about what I think if you've already made your decision? I mean, you had the meeting, you brought the morphers into our house along with that communicator. It just sounds like you're a ranger already, you know?"

"Kim, I -" Tommy began.

"I know how much you love me and respect me, Tommy," Kim interrupted with a sigh. "But it's just like with anything else you do. You start and stop whenever you feel like it, regardless of what other people try to tell you."

"You mean like with you and gymnastics?" Tommy asked, folding his arms.

"Not the same," Kim replied sharply. "I built my life around gymnastics –my whole life, Tommy. And if you think –"

"It's the same with me, Kim," Tommy said, cutting her off. "I've been doing martial arts for as long as I can remember and being a Power Ranger was like… it was a dream. As a ranger, I could use martial arts to help people. I've built _my_ whole life around it."

"It's not the same," Kim said quietly, though the look in her eyes was fierce.

"Would it really be so bad being rangers again?" Tommy asked, standing from the bed and walking over to her. "I mean, we would see more of each other, something that we won't be able to do with classes starting this fall."

"Yeah, I know," Kim agreed with a nod. "But being rangers again means quite a few other things too –the secrets and lies that we have to tell our new friends when monsters attack, the danger, missing school. And my extracurriculars… Oh, I wanted to pledge this year too…"

"You can still do all that stuff," Tommy said, resting his hands on her shoulders when she turned away from him. "We handled it in high school and we can handle it in college."

"When I gave up my morpher, I meant to be done with it forever," Kim said, moving his hands from her shoulders and pulling his arms around her waist until she could feel his body against hers. "How is it that you can keep going back?"

"Because I'm not," Tommy said softly, lightly resting his chin on her shoulder. "I don't ever go back, only forward. Being a Power Ranger isn't a burden to me. We don't _have_ to save the world… but we _get_ to."

Kim smiled and glanced back at him, leaning her head against his. It did not sound so bad, _getting_ to save the world. And getting to save the world with her friends and her future husband didn't sound so bad either.

***

Maybe it was her hair.

Ashley's hair had been one of the first things that Andros had noticed about her. Its length, its color, even its style –it was so much like… _hers_. Even now it teased his senses a little, telling his mind that when Ashley faced him again that it would be Arcadia's face that he would see though he was well aware of the impossibility. And now it was only a matter of time before she would morph as the Yellow Astroranger, ensuring that his mind would be fooled again. A year was still too soon, especially when it came to Arcadia –the love of his life.

He glanced up quickly from his Am-Scanner, wondering how she had not caught him doing so the past twenty or so times. Andros had convinced himself before that he was just double-checking her work, looking up at her to make sure that she did everything according to protocol. By now, he knew what he was doing –he just had to make sure that he saw the same thing each time.

And he did. It was Arcadia that he saw standing quietly by the engine –that is, before Ashley turned back to press a button on the panel behind her and she briefly was herself again, her hair lightly falling away from her shoulders as she turned back the engine and became Arcadia again.

Andros shook his head at himself, less amused by his mini-hallucination that he had been an hour ago. He lowered his eyes back to the data that had been on the Am-Scanner's screen for the past half-hour, little of it making much sense he was far from focused. But he stared at it until the numbers and words started to have meaning. Something was flashing on the screen and he stared at it, concluding that it was important but not understanding it at the moment. Something about the Mega Accelerator… well that was important, he thought to himself as he said each word on the screen softly to himself.

"Mega… Accelerator… System… Malfunction… 40 percent," he said softly as he tried to concentrate.

"Did you say something?" Ashley asked, turning to him.

"Um, how does everything look so far?" he asked instead as the words continued to roll around in his head.

"Pretty good so far," she replied. "The engine is fully repaired but the Mega Accelerator doesn't seem to want to cooperate. The system still says that its offline. I can't figure out what's wrong with it."

"Mega Accelerator," Andros repeated after her, the words on the scanner finally landing. "Did Zhane recalibrate the Mega Accelerator's Power Sanction?"

"I don't think so," Ashley answered, checking the information on the panel in front of her. "It isn't in the protocol either. What does it do?"

"The Mega Accelerator allows us to achieve Hyper Rush velocity and serves as our only connection to the morphing grid," he explained. "Without calibrating the Power Sanction, the Mega Accelerator has to redistribute the Astroranger powers again."

"Redistribute them?"

"Before yesterday, the powers were shared between me and Zhane," Andros said. "And now it seems that the Mega Accelerator is distributing that power amongst _six_ morphers. And it can take a while for that to happen if the Power Sanction isn't done first, which means that we won't be able to morph until it's finished."

"Oh," Ashley said, lowering her eyes. "When did you figure it out?"

"You're wearing it right now," Andros said, watching as she unconsciously pulled her jacket sleeve down to cover it. "I'm not blind."

"Are you angry?" she asked, looking back up at him.

"Would it make any difference if I was?" Andros asked her with a sigh.

Ashley's eyes met his as she removed the morpher from her wrist and held it out to him. "If you really don't want me to have it, then I'll give it back."

Andros shook his head. "I'm not going to be the bad guy that takes your morpher away from you."

"You'd rather be the guy that silently hates us every time we morph?" she asked, strapping the morpher back to her wrist. "Because I don't know that I can handle you being mad at me, especially if we're going to be sharing space for a while."

"There's nothing about you –there's no hate," Andros stammered. "Not even if you morph will I hate you… But I… I just really don't want you here."

"Because you lost your team?" she asked, regretting it as his eyes lowered and he frowned.

"Not because I lost my team," he replied, putting his hands into his jacket pockets and clutching tightly to the small envelope inside. "Because I don't want to be reminded of everything that I lost when I lost my team… I lost my family that day."

"I'm sorry," Ashley said, taking a step toward him. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

"That's just it," he said, looking up at her. "It's brought every time I see you. You will _always_ be a constant reminder of that day… And it's not your fault at all. I just can't forget that easily."

"Well, what else can we –" Ashley cut herself off at the sound of DECA's alarm.

"Quantrons are attacking Angel Grove," DECA reported. "The others are waiting for you on the bridge."

Andros and Ashley rushed from the engine room, taking the Megalift to the bridge, trying not to make eye contact as they gladly fled from their conversation in the engine room. They arrived on the bridge, taking in the nervous looks of the others.

"What's wrong?" Andros asked.

"Quantrons on Earth," Zhane answered, motioning to the main viewing screen where several quantrons were running around the shopping district in the center of the city.

"I heard," Andros said. "So why are we still standing here?"

"Well," Zhane began somewhat nervously. "According to DECA, the Mega Accelerator is offline which means that –"

"Morphing is an impossibility," Andros finished with a nod. "It'll be a few hours or more. But so what? We can still teleport and communicate with DECA if we need to."

"So, we don't have any powers," T.J. said.

"We don't need powers to take care of those guys," Andros said. "They're just quantrons."

"Yeah, except there are like thirty of them and six of us," Cassie pointed out.

"It's just five quantrons for each of us," Andros said with a shrug. "We can handle it."

"But what if –" Carlos began.

"If you can't handle it, then maybe you should just turn in your morphers right now," Andros said, leading them from the bridge. "We can't rely solely on our powers. The Astroranger suits don't really scare quantrons anymore. But if you can defeat them without morphing, they'll fear you when you do. Now let's go, we're wasting time."

***

As soon as the rangers teleported to Earth, they were immediately thrust into a swarm of quantrons. The rangers fought hard, finally able to leave the enclosed circle of quantrons and splitting into six small groups.

Andros watched the others as he fought, glad that the teens could hold their own against the foot-soldiers. And they were actually good, though he was not entirely surprised. But he _was_ surprised by the strength of their moves, knowing that they had once possessed the strength of the Turbo powers and may have leaned heavily on that power. It was clear that the Turbo power must have only added to their own power.

The rangers continued to fight as a team, in spite of having no powers, taking care of a few of their quantrons before helping a nearby teammate with theirs. With one final sweeping kick, the last of the quantrons went down and the teens stood victorious.

"Great job, guys," Zhane congratulated them, though he sensed something suddenly and glanced over at Andros who stood listening silently for the same something that Zhane sensed.

"Astronema," Andros whispered, looking around them.

No sooner had the words left his mouth did he hear groans of pain from the others, joining in when he felt a sharp pain in his back. Unable to get away from the energy that they felt going through their bodies, he and the others could only fall to their knees as they struggled to recover.

By the time the feeling in their legs returned, coming toward them was Astronema and a large monster covered in what appeared to be holes all over its stone-like body.

"You seem surprised to see me," Astronema said with a smile. "I told you that I'd get those shards one way or another."

She snapped her fingers and several quantrons appeared, holding the rangers by their arms.

"Now I'll ask you again," Astronema said, summoning her Wrath Staff in her hands. "Where are the Ka'ana Veo Shards?"

"You'll never know if you destroy us," Andros said, struggling to release himself from the quantrons to no avail.

Astronema raised her staff, pointing it at Ashley as the quantrons gripped her tighter. "I only have to destroy one of you to get the answers I seek," Astronema replied. "So I'll ask you one last time… Where are the Ka'ana Veo Shards?"

"Say pretty please," Ashley spat at her, watching Astronema's eyes cloud over in anger.

"So be it," Astronema said with a smile, turning to the monster by her side. "I'll just find the shards myself. Thorn-Bearer, you can destroy them now."

Astronema disappeared and Thorn-Bearer laughed evilly as huge thorns emanated from each of the holes on his body and began to glow brightly.

"Say goodbye Power Rangers," it said. "It's too bad that you couldn't morph and at least attempt to defend yourselves. You're just making this too easy."

"Well, we won't," a familiar voice called out as the sound of cycles filled the air. "And you've got about ten seconds to let our friends go."

From five separate directions rolled five different colored cycles with a ranger of corresponding color on each one and aimed directly at the monster. The teens looked up at the new rangers, having never seen anything like them before. They looked a little different from the rangers they had encountered in the past with white helmets widely streaked with the ranger's color on its crown. But through their large dark visors, Andros could make out who these rangers were and he could not help smiling a little as he read the word 'VEO' on the crests on their helmets.

But Thorn-Bearer only laughed at the new rangers, his thorns glowing even brighter than before. If he released energy from his thorns, the energy would likely go in every direction, Andros thought to himself, finally freeing his arm and elbowing the quantrons behind him to escape their grasp. He helped the others do the same, quickly dispatching of the quantrons and leaving them in the way of Thorn-Bearer's blasts as they hurried away. The blasts of energy from the monster's thorns knocked the quantrons down, and when the smoke cleared, the cycles and rangers were gone too.

"Looks like your friends were about as useless as they looked," Thorn-Bearer said, turning his attention back to the teens.

They stood defensively, not as ready to fight as they looked but more than willing. But as the monster walked toward them, the sound of cycles was heard again and a barrage of laser blasts hit it and sent it staggering backward. The cycles rushed at Thorn-Bearer and disappeared as the rangers jumped off of the cycles and into the air, coming down with blasters aimed at it and firing.

The monster growled and released another blast of energy in all directions, and laughing when it heard the blasts hit something. This time, when the smoke cleared, the rangers were standing several feet away from Thorn-Bearer all behind a large red shield that shrunk down significantly when its owner stepped back in line with his teammates. When the Red Ranger moved back, a long red sword appeared in his hands.

"You're in some real trouble now," the Red Ranger called out. "Veo Tech Long-Sword activate!"

"Veo Tech Trio Cannon activate," the Green Ranger called, as he lifted a large round green cannon onto his shoulder with three short barrels on its front.

"Veo Tech Batons activate," the Pink Ranger said, holding a long, thin pink baton in each hand.

"Veo Tech Water Cannon activate," the Blue Ranger called, gripping a blue square cannon in front of him with both hands.

"Veo Tech High Whip activate," the Yellow Ranger said, holding up the lengthy yellow shaft of an energy whip that crackled upon activation.

Thorn-Bearer waved the quantrons at them, the small swarm running at the Veo Tech Rangers with weapons in their hands. The teens stood back and watched in awe as the Veo Tech Rangers rushed at the minions with their weapons ready.

The Blue and Green Rangers kneeled down side by side and aimed their cannons at the quantrons, the Trio Cannon spinning its barrels as it bombarded the quantrons with blasts of green energy while the Water Cannon let out a strong expulsion of water that shot quantrons several feet away.

The Yellow Ranger swung her whip in the air, cracking it just above the quantrons' heads, the sound of it knocking some of them down. The broken line segments of yellow energy that made up the whip vanished, reappearing around the quantrons in a powerful attack that dropped the rest of them like flies.

Quantrons fought weapon-to-weapon with the Pink Ranger, unable to keep up with the speed of her fighting style as she struck at them with her batons. She flipped backward, crossing her now glowing batons in an x-formation to release the force of pink energy that blasted from the center of her weapon.

"You aren't the rangers that I was supposed to destroy," Thorn-Bearer said, blocking the Red Ranger's sword with the thorns on his arm. "But you'll do just fine."

"The only one going down is you, Spike," he retorted, executing a jumping roundhouse kick to send the monster flying back. He raised the glowing red sword in his grip and pierced the shield in his other hand with it, watching the blade of his sword quadruple in width. Finally, he brought the sword down on Thorn-Bearer, the bright red power from the sword enveloping the monster as it went down and exploded.

The teens ran over to the Veo Tech Rangers, standing back a little until they powered down, revealing themselves to be the five former rangers that they had run into a day before.

"That was awesome," Aisha said excitedly.

"Yeah, it kinda was," Rocky admitted with a smile.

"You guys _were_ awesome," Cassie said.

"Yeah, thanks for the save," Carlos added. "We thought we were toast."

"Yeah, thank you," Andros said, shaking Tommy's hand when he held it out to him.

"Hey, you guys were the awesome ones," Tommy said. "You came down here and fought without your powers. That took a lot of guts."

"Well, we're chockfull of those," Zhane replied. "How were you able to morph? We can't even morph right now."

"We don't know," Kim said with a shrug. "We just put on the morphers and, you know… morphed."

"Then that means that your power source is nearby," Andros said. "And that would explain why Astronema followed us here. She's still looking for those Ka'ana Veo Shards."

"Is there any way that we can help you find them?" Adam asked. "I mean, we're the Veo Tech Rangers now and you want to find the Veo Shards… Maybe we're supposed to help."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Zhane said. "You guys aren't afraid to fly, are you?"

_**Author's Note**__: The Veo Tech Ranger powers are modeled after the Choushinsei Flashman Super Sentai Powers for anyone who might want a visual of what those rangers looked like. Certain weapons were based on that Super Sentai team and do not belong to me, while others are based on original ideas from BellaVision. Happy reading, everyone!_


	5. Chapter 5

Ch 5

Andros sighed to himself as he skimmed a passage that appeared on the wall panel in front of him. His eyes began to shut, either out of boredom or from eyestrain, and he leaned his head against the wall as he finally closed them. Their mission seemed to be changing every passing minute and that alone was tiring. He wondered if it was possible for him to sleep in such a position, his body answering him as he stumbled forward a little when his head drooped and he jerked himself awake.

Why did he always have to be in charge of research? Zhane had taken it upon himself to play tour guide with the new set of teens onboard, leaving no one to finish checking up on repairs and to figure out anything about the Veo Shards that Astronema seemed so interested in. But his newest quest for information was quickly becoming useless. There was little or no information on the shards, nor the power source from which the Veo powers came.

Andros sat down at his station, burying his head into his arms and closing his eyes again. He was getting nowhere fast. He had learned and relearned the same information several times within the past hour, finding absolutely nothing new.

"What did you find out?" Zhane asked, walking into the bridge with the others close behind.

"Nothing about shards," Andros replied, lifting his head and sitting up straight in his chair as he turned to them. He paused as his mind slowly adjusted to the sight of ten rangers standing before him on the bridge. "But everything I've read so far says that the Veo power source is the Veo Prism, something that, along with the morphers, hasn't been used in several years."

"Until now," Zhane said. "So where do we start?"

"Start?" Andros asked.

"We should try to find the Veo Prism, shouldn't we?" Zhane asked with a shrug. "I mean, we brought these guys on board to help us find it, right?"

"Actually, we were looking for Veo _Shards_," Andros corrected with a sigh. "The Veo Prism is the least of our worries right now."

"Astronema followed us to Earth," Zhane said. "On the other hand, maybe she already knew where the morphers were and thought that we knew that, just wanting to get to them before us… But she must've had a reason to believe that we had what she was looking for before we got here."

"And that reason was?"

"I don't really know," Zhane replied. "But we collect samples from different planets all the time. The Veo Shards might be on the ship with us."

"I'm sure we would have noticed," Andros said. "And we discarded most of the samples once we were done with them. But good luck sifting through what we have left."

"Well, what's _your_ plan?" Kim asked, growing weary of the exchange between the two Astrorangers.

"I had hoped that the ship's scanners would be up and running by now," Andros answered. "But DECA won't be finished reprogramming them for another hour or so. And it would take twice as long if I did it myself. But once I'm able to do a short-range scan, I'll scan Earth for the shards."

"And if they're not on Earth?" T.J. asked. "Do we start scanning the entire universe?"

"Not very effective," Andros said, shaking his head and ignoring the sarcasm that he detected in T.J.'s question. "But I know a few people out there that might be able to help us get some information that isn't in DECA's database. I'm sure that we can get a starting point from one of them while DECA works on the scanners."

"So what do _we_ do?" Tommy asked. "We want to help you any way that we can."

Andros stood from his seat and walked toward him. "I'm not sure yet," he answered honestly. "Zhane invited you all here and I'm not sure how he expected you to help us. You don't have a ship of your own or universal contacts with information on the Veo powers… I don't want to waste your time by giving you busy work while DECA and I do everything, but… I'm not sure what you can do right now."

"Maybe we could go back to where the morphers were and see if the prism or the shards might be close by," Adam suggested.

"Well, the Am-Scanners aren't as powerful as the ship's scanners, but they should be able to find something too," Zhane said. "It wouldn't hurt to try."

Andros thought a moment but he was already nodding lightly. "Let me know what you find out," he said.

"We'll grab a few Am-Scanners from the workbay and go," Zhane said, glancing around at the others. "Anybody else coming?"

"We'll go," Adam said, nudging Carlos on the arm.

"Me too," Cassie said with a smile, sure that Zhane's eyes lit up at the sound of her voice.

Only a moment passed before the five rangers were gone and Andros was left standing on the bridge with five rangers, a sight more bearable than all ten rangers at once. Andros sat down at his seat again, looking down at his list of contacts on the main viewing screen in front of him and scowling a little when Ashley took her seat beside him.

"Are you sure there's nothing we can do?" T.J. asked.

"Well, Zhane's suggestion of going through the samples on our ship wasn't completely idiotic," Andros admitted with a sigh. "You can go to Megadeck-4 and use the Am-Scanner to see if there's anything there that resonates any power related to the Veo morphers."

"I'll help," Aisha volunteered.

"Me too," Rocky said.

"I think I'll just stick around until Tommy gets back," Kim said, leaning against a console. "You guys go on ahead. Besides, I have a few questions for our Red Ranger."

Andros listened as T.J., Rocky, and Aisha walked away from the bridge, awaiting what was sure to be his latest annoyance. But when Kim said nothing after a few moments, he turned to her. "You wanted to ask me something?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kim replied walking closer to him. "Is there something about humans that you hate?"

"What?"

"Well, I noticed that when I kissed Tommy at the café, you were ripe with the sighing and the eye-rolling," she said. "You bring us onto your ship, which I feel like I _have_ to clarify as _your_ ship since you have to approve of everything that happens around here. And once we're here, you say that we're of no use to you. And even before we got here, you stared daggers into Ashley like she was your enemy."

"What was the question again?" Andros asked sarcastically, attempting to remain calm.

"Do you hate us because we're human?" Kim asked. "Or is it something else?"

"Zhane and I _are_ human," he began. "And I didn't invite you here, Zhane did. I'd have never brought you onto the ship for this little stuff. I'd have waited until we had a better idea of what we were dealing with before bringing you up here. I'd be just as satisfied leaving you here to protect Earth while we look for these shards… And my approval on all things concerning the Megaship is something that used to be a necessity before we took on four extra rangers, which has significantly increased to nine since then."

"So, what is it about us that you hate?" Kim asked.

"I don't hate anyone," Andros said in frustration. "But I didn't ask for this… I didn't ask for any of this."

"What _was_ it like before you 'took on' the nine of us?" Ashley asked.

"Lonely," he answered firmly. "And it gets lonelier with every time that I have to explain this… Just over a year ago, Zhane and I had a full team of Astrorangers. And now we don't anymore. I fought with them for six years and everyone keeps saying that I need to get past it, that I should get over it. One of the people I lost was my fiancée, for goodness sakes. How do I just get over something like that?"

"You just… do," Ashley said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe not right away, and definitely not after one year. But it happens."

"Ashley's right," Kim said. "I can't even imagine how you must feel right now. And I'm sorry to even bring it up. But you don't hide it very well when something bothers you… like kissing or us."

"Regardless of how I've reacted to your being here, I really am glad that you're here to help," Andros said, though he was not sure which of them he was speaking to and decided it best not to clarify. "Now can we stop talking about this stuff? There's work to do."

"Sorry," Kim said as Andros turned back to the viewing screen, motioning for Ashley to follow her out. "We'll leave you alone."

Kim silently pulled Ashley away from the bridge by the arm and onto the Megalift, staring at her with a small smile.

"What?" Ashley asked, though she smiled a little too.

"He likes you," Kim replied.

"Andros?" Ashley questioned almost with a laugh as she pressed a button in the Megalift labeled 'Megadeck-5'.

"Trust me, I have a sense for this kind of stuff. He really likes you."

"I just don't see it," Ashley said with a shrug. "Andros and me… First of all, he barely talks to me and when he does, he hardly looks at me."

"He's probably just shy around you."

"And second of all, Andros told me that he doesn't want us here," Ashley continued. "So I don't think that he does."

"But you didn't see the way he looked at you when he sat down next to you," Kim said.

"You said he was staring daggers into me," Ashley pointed out.

"Well… he was for a while," Kim admitted. "But he fixated on you. That's a mini-obsession –a good sign."

"No offense, Kim," Ashley started as she entered her bedroom and sat on her bed. "But you seem to be a little bit in denial about this. I've only known him for, let's see, three days now. I really don't think that Andros likes me."

"If he did, would you be interested?" Kim asked with a grin, pulling out the chair from Ashley's desk and sitting down.

"Interested in Andros?" Ashley giggled. "I don't know. I'd have to know more about him before I made that decision… But he _is_ cute."

***

Andros leaned back in his seat, staring blankly at the viewing screen as he reflected on his conversation with Kim and Ashley. Kim was certainly something different. But he had guessed that when he had first seen her, having seen a similar spark in Ashley when they had met except –

There was always a need with her. So far, the need was approval –on the uniforms, the rooms, the morphers. But today, no, a few moments ago, the need had been truth. And while he had given her just that since their first meeting, she asked for it this time. It did not even matter that Kim did most of the talking; he had seen how intently Ashley listened to his answers when he spoke. She would seek more truth now and it would only be a matter of time before he finally told her about… _her._

Andros reached into his pocket and removed the small envelope with his name on its front, staring just as blankly at it as he had the viewing screen. The Arcadia issue was a conversation that he really did not want to have with Ashley. It would be hard enough explaining that she looked like Arcadia every time he stole a glance, but he could only imagine the outpour of guilt that would come from her once he revealed the contents of the envelope. And he was sure that he would not be able to hide it forever, not from her at least.

He opened the envelope with a sigh, sliding the piece of paper inside halfway out of the envelope. He looked at it briefly before his eyes began tearing up and he slid the paper back inside, placing the envelope back into his pocket. One year was not enough time. He needed more time and being around Ashley would either force him to get over it or force him into further seclusion. And with more rangers on the ship, asking questions and wanting to 'get to know him', he could still go either way with them, choosing to seclude himself or allow himself to become part of the team again.

A part of the team.

There was still something unsettling every time he said that word in his head. Team. It just did not have the right feel to it. There was something tainted about the word ever since that day, the day that his friends had – No, one year was not enough. It felt like betrayal to refer to the team when his team was gone now. It just felt wrong; wrong to say it and wrong to think it.

"Andros," T.J.'s voice rang out on the ship's intercom. "We think we have something. Meet us in the Megadeck-4 storage closet."

Andros stood up and walked to the Megalift, taking his time as he made his way to the storage closet. Less than an hour ago, had he not dismissed the idea of finding Veo Shards on the ship? Zhane would never let him live this down, not when Andros had made such a big deal about it.

As the door to the closet opened, he saw that Kim and Ashley were already inside with T.J. and the others waiting for him. They all glanced back at him in acknowledgement, motioning for him to come closer before turning their attention to T.J. and the light glow of the stone in his hand. Andros could not help meeting Ashley's eyes briefly as she smiled at him a little before turning back to T.J. He almost felt himself return it, though he felt such a thing was most impossible for him as he gripped the envelope in his pocket.

"What'd you find, T.J.?" Andros asked.

"This," T.J. replied, holding up the stone in his hand and moving it near Aisha and Rocky. The triangular emblems on the Veo morphers glowed, as did Kim's. "According to DECA, this is a rock sample from the planet Bromak-7."

"But its reaction to the Veo morphers means that the shards or the prism may have come into contact with it," Ashley concluded.

"Sounds like we have a starting point after all," Zhane said from behind them, walking in with Tommy, Adam, Carlos, and Cassie. "How'd it go with your contacts, Andros?"

"It didn't," Andros answered. "I never contacted them. I was, um… distracted. But one of them used to live on Bromak-7, so he might have some information on these shards."

"Well, I'll set a course for Bromak-7," Zhane said, walking out of the room. "And you can talk to your friend while I do that. Let us know what you find out and we can plan where we go next."

"Uh, sure," Andros said, taken back by Zhane's newest attempt at leadership. But he had expected it, as Zhane had taken it upon himself to make several major decisions without him recently. Andros had sensed the change the moment he had given out the Astroranger uniforms. And he was not sure how much he liked that. But things were getting done, he supposed as he followed Zhane from the storage closet to the Megalift.

Andros sat back down at his station and glanced over at Zhane who manually turned the ship around and set the course for Bromak-7.

"DECA, open communications with Wan of Bromak-7," Andros commanded.

"Communications open," DECA announced as the image of a young boy with blond hair appeared on the viewing screen.

"Wan," Andros began. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

"Just got back up," Wan replied with a smile. "You need something, Andros?"

"Unfortunately, I do," Andros said. "And believe me when I tell you that you won't go unrewarded for any information you give us."

"Forget it," Wan said, bouncing a small blue ball on the floor in front of him. "I owe you one anyway. What'd you want to know?"

"Astronema attacked us the other day," Andros started. "She said that she was looking for Veo Shards, ever heard of anything like that?"

Wan froze at the word Veo, letting the ball bounce away from him. "You said 'Veo', right?" he asked.

"What's wrong?" Andros asked.

"I didn't think anyone would be after the Veo Prism again, not after what happened last time," Wan said.

"Not the prism, just shards," Andros corrected.

"The Veo Prism is made up of those shards," Wan explained. "The prism was sold on Onyx several years ago and rumor was that it was broken by a group of Power Rangers that were supposed to protect it."

"Veo Tech Rangers?" Andros guessed.

"The very same," Wan said with a nod. "The shards were supposed to be scattered and no one ever tried to look for them. The rangers still protected them as far as anyone knew. But then word got around that the Veo Tech Rangers had disbanded, no longer serving a purpose in the universe with no one going after the shards."

"Any word on how the morphers got on Earth?"

"Zordon," Wan answered. "He hid them on Earth, his newest base of operations. But you say that someone's looking for them now?"

"The Veo morphers are safe," Andros assured the increasingly frantic Wan. "How bad will it be if Astronema gets the shards and puts the Veo Prism back together?"

"Bad," Wan answered firmly. "And you won't even know it even _after_ it happens."

"Like last time?" Zhane inquired, finally jumping into the conversation. "What happened last time?"

"Everything changed," Wan said. "And nothing's been the same since. But since I'm one of the only people who actually remembers what it was like before, I'm not at liberty to discuss it."

"So what do we do?" Andros asked.

"Get those shards," Wan said. "And destroy them… or else you might end up like me."

The screen went blank again and the rangers glanced at one another as Andros leaned back in his seat with a sigh. This Veo Prism was powerful, all right. He had figured that much, but things were going to get dangerous now, something that he had hoped to avoid with nine new rangers on the ship.

"Um, Andros?" Rocky asked, scratching his head. "Were you just talking to a little kid?"

"Not a real kid," Andros replied distantly. "A victim of a constant temporal fold. Time goes backward and forward for him on a daily basis. The next time we see him, he may look like he's in his sixties. But his memory stays, the information is always there."

"So is that what happened last time with the Veo Prism?" Ashley asked. "It caused the temporal fold thing?"

"I guess so," Andros replied.

"So… we're going to go after the Veo Shards and destroy them as we find them?" Kim asked.

"We gather the pieces first," Andros said, deep in thought. "When we're sure that we have all the pieces, then we destroy it."

_Maybe_, he thought to himself. _Maybe they would destroy it._


	6. Chapter 6

Ch 6

The beeping was hard to ignore. It was not very loud, but it had just enough volume and annoyance to make Andros open his eyes.

He was certain that only a moment before he had been in the most wonderful dream, a dream about Arcadia. Unfortunately, he could remember nothing other than staring contently into her eyes. He closed his eyes again, determined to go back into the dream, hoping that its details would come back to him.

And slowly DECA's beeping alarm was drowned out and Andros opened his eyes again, this time looking into a pair of concerned brown eyes.

***

"_You came back," Arcadia said with a smile, kneeling by his bed and resting her chin on the bed in front of Andros' smiling face._

"_We were talking about something important before we were interrupted," Andros replied. _

"_We were," she said. "But our conversation ended with me telling you to wake up."_

"_Why wake up when I can stay here with you for a while longer?"_

"_Well, DECA's been trying to wake you up for the past hour now," Arcadia answered. "In a while, Zhane'll probably be in here to get you up himself."_

"_Until then, we can talk, can't we?"_

"_I suppose so," Arcadia shrugged. "But you won't remember a word of what I tell you."_

"_Try me."_

_Arcadia stood up and sat down on the edge of Andros' bed. "You're dreaming about me again," she said softly._

"_What's wrong with that?" Andros asked, sitting up. "I like dreaming about you."_

"_I know you do," she replied. "But I'm not the girl you fell in love with, Andros. I'm the girl you're in love with now."_

"_What's that supposed to mean?"_

"_Look around you," Arcadia said, gesturing at the walls around them. "This isn't right… Nothing about us is right."_

"_What are you saying?" Andros asked. "Are you saying that what we really had together wasn't what we have in my dreams?"_

"_You know that isn't what I mean," she said, resting her hand on his thigh. "We loved each other… but the way you remember things is wrong."_

"_Like what?"_

_Arcadia shrugged. "I'm part of _your_ dream, Andros," she reminded him. "That means that you already know something isn't right, and that also means that I don't know anymore than you do. But if you think about it, I think you'll figure it out."_

"_Is it because you don't smell the same?" Andros asked. "The last time I dreamt about you, you smelled like Ashley… is that it?"_

"_That's one thing," Arcadia replied with a nod._

"_I'm not attracted to her," Andros said, shaking his head. "I think that I've just forgotten what Ipshin flowers smell like… And her smell is just so… distracting. I think I'll stop thinking about it so much if I just ask her what it is."_

"_But you're not attracted to her?" Arcadia asked with a smile._

"_I love _you_," he said firmly. "I could never love anyone else."_

"_Don't say that," Arcadia said, scooting closer to him and leaning her head against his shoulder. "I want you to love other people eventually… You'll forget all about me and get married and have babies."_

"_Never," Andros assured her. "I'd sooner dream about you forever."_

"_Definitely don't say that," she said, though he could feel that she was smiling. "Andros?"_

"_Hm?"_

"_It's time to get up now," she said gently. "Get up…"_

***

"Get up," Zhane was saying loudly when Andros opened his eyes again. "You overslept."

"Go away," Andros mumbled as he pulled his sheets over his head. "Let me sleep."

"You've slept enough," Zhane said, pulling the sheets off of Andros and onto the floor.

Andros turned over in his bed, glaring at Zhane as he sat up. "What's your problem?"

"DECA's been trying to wake you up for almost two hours," Zhane said. "I thought something was wrong. Every time I asked her where you were, she just said that you were sleeping. And after two hours, I'm sorry if I start to panic a little when she keeps saying that."

"Relax, Zhane," Andros said, calmed a bit by Zhane's lack of calmness. "I was just catching up on my sleep."

"Catching up on sleep is fine, Andros," he replied. "But you're the one who said you'd lead the others through Simudeck training this morning before we got to Bromak-7 … or did you forget?"

"I guess I forgot," Andros admitted. "But I'm sure that you handled it just fine on your own."

"That's not really the point," Zhane said. "You're just determined not to have anything to do with these guys, aren't you?"

"Why is that a bad thing?" Andros asked. "How long do you think they'll actually be here? A few weeks or so? Maybe a couple of months? Why waste time getting close to nine strangers who, I might add, have brought us nothing but trouble since they got here?"

"How can you be so cynical?" Zhane asked. "It's been a year, Andros. And I don't really care if you don't think it was enough time… it's been long enough for me. It's been _too_ long."

"You don't understand," Andros said with a sigh. "You don't know what I lost that day…"

"Your fiancée," Zhane said. "You lost Arcadia and I'm sorry that you did. I know how hard you're taking it but I'm not telling you to forget about her. I'm telling you to start moving on… You don't have to get engaged with anyone else. You don't have to date anyone else. I'm asking you to be nice, to be friendly. That's something that you need to do… it's something that you _have_ to do because these guys are here to stay. And not for a few weeks or a couple of months –they'll be here as long as their morphers remain on their wrists."

"I didn't give them the morphers," Andros argued, standing up from his bed angrily. "That was your decision –one that you made without me. But you want me 'to be nice, to be friendly'? How can I do that?"

"You do your best," Zhane replied, narrowing his eyes at him. "Not too long ago, we were telling Tommy and the others how much of an influence he and the other rangers were to us. Why don't you show him that we actually learned something? Because I can't do it by myself."

Zhane turned away from Andros and walked out of the room, leaving Andros standing by his bed, unable to think of anything to call out after him as the door shut behind him. He got dressed instead, deciding it best to do a little training on his own. The others would be done on the Simudeck by now and he could stand to blow off a little steam.

But when Andros reached the Simudeck, he heard the familiar sounds of a simulated attack of quantrons inside and the grunts of a defensive assault. As he got closer, he could hear that whoever was fighting the quantrons was winning and he finally stepped inside the Simudeck's doorway. Standing in the center of the black and green simulation and surrounded by several piles of defeated quantrons was Tommy in a gray Astroranger uniform. Tommy looked up when Andros walked further into the room and smiled.

"Stop simulation," Tommy said, watching in quiet awe as his surroundings disappeared and the Simudeck's walls were all that were left. "Hey, Andros."

"Training Sequence 12/F-5," Andros said, nodding his head in admiration. "Not bad. What was your time?"

"Ten minutes, seven seconds," DECA replied when Tommy shrugged.

"Not bad at all," Andros said.

"That was one of the harder ones, I take it?" Tommy asked.

"Wasn't it?"

"It was pretty challenging," Tommy said with a nod. "But I was taking my time –didn't want to overexert myself… How'd you know the training sequence?"

"Created it myself," Andros replied. "I only use it when I need to blow off some steam… I was actually here to do just that."

"What's your usual time?"

"Eight minutes, forty-six seconds," Andros answered. "But then, I take my time too."

"Well, I wasn't quite finished working out yet if you want to spar a little," Tommy said.

"Sure," Andros said distractedly, removing his jacket, his eyes locked on Tommy's uniform as he watched Tommy do the same. "Couldn't help but admire the uniform," he said to him after a moment.

Tommy looked down at himself with a smile. "Zhane said that since we couldn't go back to get any of our stuff, like clothes and things like that, we could wear these uniforms. I think they're kind of cool."

Andros didn't respond as he walked to the center of the room toward Tommy and took a fighting stance. Tommy stood defensively, waiting patiently for Andros to strike. Finally, Andros came at him with a few quick strikes to his chest, which Tommy blocked just as fast with his forearms, catching Andros' wrist in his hands and twisting his arm just enough to force him down to one knee. Andros looked up at Tommy and gritted his teeth, rolling under Tommy's outstretched arm to relieve the pain of the twist and striking his forearm with his fist. Tommy released Andros' wrist and stepped back, waiting for the next move.

Andros came at Tommy again, this time with a series of kicks to Tommy's side that were again blocked easily by Tommy's hands, only this time Andros was ready for it and was able to grab hold of Tommy's hand and push off the ground with his other foot to kick him down. Tommy got back to his feet with a smile.

"That was good," Tommy said as they slowly circled the center of the Simudeck.

"I know," Andros replied. "Don't hold back so much."

"All right then," Tommy said. "I won't."

Tommy rushed at him with a high roundhouse kick and followed it immediately with a low spinning hook-kick, performing them again in rapid succession when Andros was able to stay on his feet. But a jumping side-kick to the chest sent Andros staggering back and he glared at Tommy again, coming at him full-force with every move that he knew in as close succession as he could, his anger building as Tommy blocked the first half of them. But he was finally able to get in several strikes later and Tommy backed himself into a wall, slowly realizing how serious Andros was taking this sparring match when he saw the frown on Andros' face and felt the full force of each strike.

Before Andros could attack again, Tommy kicked him low to gain distance from him and gave him a full-force kick to the chest to send Andros to the ground.

"Maybe we need to stop now," Tommy said as he leaned against the wall to catch his breath, while Andros lay on the floor to do the same.

"Giving up?" Andros asked, sitting up on the floor.

"Not giving up," Tommy replied, walking over to Andros and holding out his hand to help him up. "But I don't think that sparring on your planet and sparring on mine are the same."

"Meaning what?" Andros asked, nudging Tommy's hand away as he got to his feet on his own.

"Sparring is usually not full-contact," Tommy said, bringing a hand to the throbbing pain in his chest from one of Andros' kicks. "Every move you made was meant to bring pain. That isn't the purpose of sparring. We're supposed to be fighting on the same side, not trying to hurt each other and not trying to compete with each other."

"I don't need to compete with you," Andros scoffed. "And don't lecture me like I'm your student… Sparring is training to be better, training to fight monsters that want to destroy us and everything we stand for."

"And what is it that _you_ stand for, Andros?" Tommy asked.

"My oath as a Power Ranger," he replied firmly. "And to my friends…"

"Are you willing to make an oath to a new friend?" Tommy asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"A new friend?" Andros repeated.

"Yeah," Tommy said. "An oath to redirect your anger… and to understand that we aren't your enemies."

"I don't have any anger," Andros said, turning from him.

"Yes, you do," Tommy said. "Zhane explained to us that you lost your team a year ago and I can't –"

"Don't say that you can't imagine how I feel," Andros rolling his eyes and turning back to Tommy. "I'm tired of hearing that. I know that you don't know what I feel because you weren't involved, you weren't there, and you've never lost an entire team like that before… So I know."

"What I _can_ tell you is that what happened shouldn't affect your relationship with us," Tommy said with a sigh. "If there's any way that we can help you get through this, just let us know. Since we don't know how you feel, you can tell us."

"I don't want to talk about it," Andros snapped at him. "I want to be left alone and I want my ship back to normal –with two Astrorangers on it like it was just five days ago."

"Unfortunately, there's no way to change that now," Tommy said. "But our plan is to leave after we find the Veo Prism, so you won't have to worry about us for too long. All I ask is that we at least be civil until then. Can you do that?"

"I didn't ask you to spar," Andros pointed out. "You asked _me_, you know."

Tommy shook his head. "I don't care that you got carried away this time," he said. "But next time, I won't be quite so understanding… You didn't have to prove to me that you could fight, Andros. I knew that before we sparred. You're good at what you do, I know that too. You wouldn't be alive if you weren't."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Andros asked angrily. "You think that my friends weren't good fighters because they're not here anymore? Because they –"

"Andros, I'm not insulting your team," Tommy interrupted. "But you already knew that… What I'm saying is that I know you can hold your own. I trust in your leadership as long as you're willing to lead. And I feel like I should tell you that I'd never take your team away from you. But if your attitude towards them doesn't change, you'll drive them away from you for sure."

Andros lowered his eyes with a soft sigh. He could not understand why he was overreacting. Maybe it was because Tommy was right about him, about everything. How sad he found it that a stranger could know him so well without having talked to him for longer than a few minutes. Sadder still was that Tommy wanted to be his friend in spite of that and everything within Andros refused to allow it.

But Andros forced his eyes up, looking at Tommy as he remained deep in thought. They were not enemies, Andros reminded himself. He was almost certain that he could force himself to be pleasant. After all, Tommy and the others, they were part of his… team. The word still carried a bitter taste for him, but for the first time in a while, it was not as bitter as it had been in the past. His team… the thought became more tolerable with every minute.

"I'm sorry," Andros said. "I promise that I'll try to be less… I don't know, less unfriendly."

"Forget about it," Tommy said with a smile. "If you're willing to –"

"Now approaching Bromak-7," DECA announced suddenly, making Andros jump a little.

"Guess we should get to the bridge," Andros said, walking toward the doorway with Tommy on his heels.

***

Andros and Tommy arrived on the bridge, joining the other rangers who stared in silence at the large blue planet on the main viewing screen that was surrounded by four purple moons. Tommy walked over to stand by Kim, who acknowledged him with a smile as she took his hand in hers. Andros stood by the ships steering controls, somewhat away from the others that crowded the stations surrounding the viewing screen. But Zhane glanced back at him and walked up to him.

"Where were you?" he asked quietly.

"I went to the Simudeck… ran into Tommy," Andros replied with a shrug. "We talked for a while."

"That's all?" Zhane asked, folding his arms.

"We sparred a little, but it wasn't a big deal," Andros said.

"So you listened to me after all," Zhane said with a smile. "You made an effort to connect with someone and you did, right? You're friends now?"

"Yeah," Andros answered with a nod.

"Except, you know… when I looked in on you guys on the ship's monitors, you kind of looked like you were trying to kill him," Zhane said, narrowing his eyes at him.

"I apologized," Andros said. "And it won't happen again… I'm ready to start moving on. I really am."

"Good," Zhane said, walking back to the others. "DECA, how long until we're safe to start landing?"

"Descent is permitted now," DECA replied. "No special permission is required to land."

"Locate Wan of Bromak-7 before beginning descent," Andros ordered. "And open communications."

"Locating Wan of Bromak-7," DECA announced. "Wan of Bromak-7 located and communications are now open."

A second later, a blond teenager appeared on the screen in front of them, greeting the sea of faces with a smile.

"I don't think I've ever seen so many Power Rangers all at once," Wan said with a wave.

"Just thought we'd give you a heads up," Andros said, walking closer to where the other rangers stood. "We're ready to land now."

"I should hope so," Wan replied. "Astronema's already here, looking for the shards."

"How'd she get there first?" Zhane asked. "We were traveling at Maximum Hyper-Rush Velocity. The Dark Fortress can't go faster than us."

"I don't know, but you might want to get here soon," Wan said. "She's searching Hurya, the second moon of this planet. She won't find the shards there, but I wouldn't be surprised if she has a few of her friends waiting for you here and on the other three moons."

"You know where the shards are?" T.J. asked.

"Not all of them," Wan answered. "Just the ones here. I was placed in charge of hiding those and I'll wait until you get here to tell you where they are… in case someone's listening in on our conversation."

"It wouldn't surprise me," Zhane said. "Astronema was able to open communications with the Megaship without permission the day she attacked us… It's possible that we're being bugged too."

"Then, we'll speak when you arrive at my location," Wan said with a nod. "I'll see you then."

The screen flashed and Wan's image was gone, replaced once more by the blue planet and purple moons. The rangers all turned to Andros and Zhane, awaiting further instructions.

"At least one of us is going to have to stay onboard while the rest of us search for the shards," Andros began. "But I doubt that it'll take ten of us to do that. So, I propose that we split into five teams –one team for each moon to serve as either a distraction for Astronema and her quantrons and monsters and the last team will search for the shards on Bromak-7."

"Well, I'll volunteer to stay behind," Zhane said. "I can monitor things from up here and do more research on the shards to see if I can get another lead on where the other pieces of the Veo Prism might be."

"We'll decide teams when we get to Bromak-7," Andros said. "Is everyone agreed?"

Without hesitation, the others nodded in agreement and Andros smiled a little.

"Then, we're ready to land," Andros said, looking over at an equally satisfied Zhane. "Let's find some shards."


	7. Chapter 7

Ch 7

Andros felt uneasy as he and the others separated on Bromak-7, leaving only him and Tommy to meet up with Wan. He felt better knowing that Zhane would be keeping an eye on things from the Astro Megaship, but he did not feel good about leaving the other rangers on the strange planet's moons on their own. There was no telling how many quantrons or monsters could have been waiting for them once they arrived on Bromak-7's moons and more than a handful of each on every moon could prove detrimental to the mission. But if they could hold off being captured or destroyed by Astronema until Tommy and Andros found the Veo Prism shards, things just might be okay.

He and Tommy walked along the small strip of land that stretched in a fairly straight line ahead of them, trying their best to avoid the water on either side of them. Not surprisingly, the blue planet of Bromak-7 seemed to be almost ninety percent water and, as the sun began to rise and cast a bright reflective shimmer on it, the few grasses and trees that were able to thrive there seemed even greener as the rangers passed by them.

After a moment, Andros took out an Am-Scanner and locked on Wan's energy, following the thin path toward a peninsula of land, where the Am-Scanner picked up several other energy readings surrounding him. By the time Tommy and Andros finally reached him, Wan was already pacing a little, unable to walk back and forth very far without risking a fall into the water. But when he saw the rangers coming closer, he relaxed a bit and stopped pacing.

"Hello again," Wan greeted them with a smile. "I trust that you were not followed?"

"Actually, we're surrounded by _something_ that's alive," Andros replied, looking down at his scanner. "But I've yet to see anything else here other than water and you."

"You're probably picking up on Hyoplans," Wan explained. "They inhabit the water on this planet, and they're the small creatures that possess the Veo shards that you're in search of."

"In there?" Tommy asked, glancing around at the huge ocean surrounding them.

"Yes," Wan answered. "The Hyoplans are the perfect keepers of the Veo shards –they usually go unnoticed on this planet, but when the shards are at risk of being found, they fight together to defend them. And only they can take you to where the shards are hidden."

"You aren't coming with us?" Andros asked.

"The power of the Veo Prism keeps me bound to this spot as punishment for my actions," Wan replied. "Its power is what transforms me on a daily basis and coming so close to it once more could make my situation even worse… I cannot chance that. And so I will remain here and ask that you do not greet me in person after finding the shards."

Wan whistled shrilly and the calm ocean became tumultuous with waves and tiny splashes. Finally, the water calmed again and a tadpole-like creature, no larger than Andros' hand, swam up to the surface to answer Wan's call. It smiled with its human-like facial features and awaited further instruction from Wan.

"Oelida," Wan began. "Take the rangers to the Veo shards. Show them the same respect you show me and make sure that they are protected on their journey to the hidden place. Remember that you cannot return them here after they retrieve the shards but ensure that they reach the surface without issue."

Oelida nodded and motioned for Andros and Tommy to follow her into the water, waiting until they dived into the water to hand them each a long green leaf.

"Hold the Broka leaves in your mouths until you reach the surface again," Wan instructed. "They should help you to breathe underwater temporarily while you search for the shards."

"Temporarily?" Tommy asked.

"As humans, we are not meant to survive underwater," Wan said. "If that were true, I'd have met you down there instead of here out in the open. You will have about an hour to retrieve the shards. Before your time is up, Oelida will guide you to the surface… But it should not take that long."

The rangers placed the leaves in their mouths and followed Oelida under the water's surface, holding their breaths just in case.

***

Unht had to be the more boring of the moons, Ashley decided to herself as she and Cassie wandered around the light purple surface with Am-Scanners. There was absolutely nothing on it except rocks, though she was not sure that she really expected to see anything else. But in spite of her boredom, she did not envy T.J. and Adam on Hurya, where Astronema had last been seen lurking around with quantrons who scanned for the Veo Prism shards. So far, no quantrons had been seen where they were or on any of the others moons, but they had only arrived a few minutes earlier.

Ashley's eyes drifted from the scanner's screen to the small envelope that she had hidden under it, sliding it slightly from under the scanner and hoping that Cassie did not notice it as she trailed behind her. She had not meant to bring it with her, finding it on the Megaship's floor as Andros had led them from the bridge. Ashley seemed to have been the only one to see it, picking it up and briefly noting Andros' name on the envelope's front and that it was not sealed. She did not open it, not having the time to do so, nor being able to open something that did not belong to her.

But she looked at it now, wondering if she should open it anyway. Even though it belonged to Andros, one peek could not hurt except… he already did not like them. Touching anything that was his would likely be a problem for Andros, let alone looking at it.

"What's that, Ash?" Cassie asked, now walking side-by-side with Ashley as she grew tired of her own scanner's screen.

"It's a, um," Ashley began, unable to think of a lie quickly enough. She sighed and placed the envelope on top of her scanner. "I think Andros dropped this back on the ship."

"You didn't open it, did you?" Cassie asked.

Ashley shook her head. "I can't bring myself to do it," she said. "If Kim was right, he'll show it to me one day anyway."

"If Kim was right about what?" Cassie asked, briefly feeling hurt that Ashley had kept something from her.

"Yesterday, Kim told me that she thinks Andros might like me," Ashley said, turning to her.

"Well, what do you think about that?"

"What do I think?" Ashley repeated. "I think that the very idea is completely crazy. And if Andros likes me that way after four days of knowing me, then I think he might be a little crazy too."

"I wouldn't say that he was crazy," Cassie replied. "I'd say it was love at first sight. And then I'd say, 'aww' at the thought of the two of you getting together."

"You think he could actually like me?"

"I think that Andros went through something really horrible with the other Astrorangers and he's been hurting like crazy ever since," Cassie said. "He probably hasn't been around anyone other than Zhane since then… and maybe Wan. But now he has to suddenly deal with nine strangers who are living with him and wearing his old friends' clothes and staying in their rooms. And he really hasn't spoken to us very much since we've been here… But he's spoken with you, I mean, really holding conversations with you. So… yeah, maybe he could like you. At any rate, he must think that you're pretty. He's always staring at you."

"Kim told me that he was looking at me kind of angrily once," Ashley remembered. "Maybe he just really hates me and can't do anything about it except seethe behind my back and tolerate me when I talk to him."

"I guess that could be true too," Cassie replied. "But I kind of doubt it. The times I caught him looking at you, he wasn't angry at all. He almost smiled when he looked over at you."

Ashley blushed under her ranger helmet. "Really?" she asked.

"Yeah," Cassie said with a nod. "But I don't think that he would keep doing all those things if he knew you had something that belonged to him."

"Oh, I know that," Ashley said with a sigh, looking down at the envelope. "And I brought it with me by accident, just asking to lose it somewhere… He's been patient enough with all of us so far. I'd hate to push him over the edge with something that he must carry with him all the time. I'll give it back to him when we get back to the ship."

Ashley briefly handed her Am-Scanner to Cassie as she pulled back the neck of her ranger suit and placed the envelope as far down as she could before taking the scanner back from Cassie.

"So, what do you really think?" Cassie asked after a moment of silent scanning.

"About what?" Ashley asked.

"Andros," Cassie answered. "Do you like _him_?"

Ashley shrugged. "I haven't known him long enough to answer that question… But like I told Kim, he's a pretty cute guy. If he asked me out right now, I don't think I'd say no. Would you?"

"I don't know," Cassie replied, her thoughts slowly drifting from Andros to Zhane. "What about… Zhane?"

"Why Zhane?" Ashley asked, a teasing in her voice that she could not hide.

"Why not Zhane?" Cassie asked. "If he asked you out, would you say no?"

"I think I would," Ashley answered.

"Why?" Cassie asked, turning back to Ashley.

"I'd say no because it seems that my best friend likes him," Ashley replied with a giggle, watching Cassie's tense shoulders relax a little. "And I think he might like her too judging by smile and the kiss on the hand you told me he gave you when he met you."

It was Cassie's turn to blush. "He hasn't really seemed that interested in me since then, though," she said. "We worked together for a little while and he smiled at me again, but it was probably just a smile, right?"

"I guess that could be true," Ashley said, mocking Cassie's tone as she threw the words back at her friend.

"Don't joke," Cassie said with a giggle, playfully swatting at Ashley. "It's possible that I misread him when he smiles at me. It could be the same smile he gives everybody and I just haven't been paying attention."

"You and I have to come to an agreement," Ashley said, placing a hand on Cassie's shoulder. "We have to promise each other that we won't let these guys make us crazy before we figure out if they really like us. In fact, I propose that we wait two weeks before we just ask them straight out. It should be more obvious by then if they like us and if it isn't, we'll ask."

"I can do that," Cassie agreed. "But we can still flirt a little, can't we? Just to speed things up some?"

"Flirting is okay," Ashley said with a nod. "Then we can –"

The discordant sound of their morphers interrupted them suddenly. "We have to teleport to Hurya," Zhane's voice said urgently. "The others need us right away. I can't reach Tommy or Andros right now, but DECA's going to keep trying. So, I'm on my way now."

"Us too," Ashley said, looking over at Cassie as they used their morphers to teleport away from Unht.

***

Swimming while breathing was strange, Andros realized as he and Tommy continued to follow Oelida deeper into the water. Every time he took in a breath his mind panicked a little, thinking that his lungs would soon be filled with water. But he was still far from worried as they passed by several Hyoplans, who all stopped at the sight of two humans in their midst. Andros glanced around, finally noticing that the Hyoplans were following them as well. It was not long before Oelida stopped, turning to them as they approached what appeared to be a dead end. It was then that Tommy noticed how surrounded by creatures they were at the moment.

"Before I take you any further," Oelida began, her voice not nearly as tiny sounding as she looked. "I must ask you why you seek the Veo shards."

"We have to put the Veo Prism back together," Tommy answered. "Wan already warned us not to use its power. And we have no intention of using it."

"I was not asking you Tommy Oliver," Oelida replied, looking to Andros. "As the Red Veo Tech Ranger, I do not misunderstand your desire to seek out the shards. It is the Red Astroranger that I ask. What is your connection to this mission?"

"The Astroranger team and I were involved in this mission before the Veo morphers were ever used," Andros tried to explain. "Our mission is the same as the Veo Tech Rangers –to ensure that Astronema does not use the Veo Prism's power."

Oelida paused and looked at him, swimming closer to his face to look into his eyes. "Are you aware of what the Veo Prism can accomplish?" she asked him.

"I understand that it is very powerful," Andros replied. "As Tommy said, Wan explained to us several reasons why using the Veo Prism would be too dangerous to use."

"Perhaps, I misspoke," Oelida said, shaking her head. "I asked a question when I should have made a statement… You _know_ what the Veo Prism can accomplish. My question should have been 'why do you hide this fact'?"

"I am not certain of how to use the Veo Prism," Andros admitted. "But I only deduced what it does based on the consequences that Wan lives with. If the consequence is a constant temporal fold, then I would guess that the cause was using the Veo Prism to alter his own timeline."

"Not just his _own_ timeline," Oelida corrected. "He sought to change the past, something not to be taken lightly. There is always a price for using the Veo Prism in this way. It differs from person to person, but the price remains and must always be paid in full… I say this because you have yet to say that your intent is not to use it, Astroranger."

Andros thought back to his words, as well as to Tommy's. He had admitted to knowing Wan's warning about using it and knowing what its power was, but he had avoided saying that he would not use it. "My intention is to keep Astronema from gathering the shards and putting together the Veo Prism," he said. "We only collect the shards simply to know that we have all the pieces that she is looking for. We will not use the Veo Prism."

Oelida continued to look into his eyes, analyzing his every word as she seemed to struggle to believe him. But after a while, she looked to the other Hyoplans. "His words are true," she said to them. "You heard them yourselves. Are there any who doubt him?"

Andros looked around at the Hyoplans, many of whom shook their heads despite their doubting expressions.

"Why should we give the Veo Prism shards to humans?" one of them shouted. "They need assistance from Broka leaves to even come down here. They do not belong here and the shards do not belong with them."

"But they are the Power Rangers," another shouted. "Surely, they will protect the Veo Prism as they say. Why should we doubt them?"

"Because they are human," it replied. "They fall victim to temptation and our world changes again. Is that what we want?"

"We trust that these humans will not," Oelida said, though she still eyed Andros carefully. "We know that they understand the consequences… I say that should be enough."

"Wan knew the consequences as well," the dissenter continued. "And we became these… these _things_. Humans think nothing of the other worlds they change. They do not care about changing the creatures in their own world, let alone ours." He swam up to Andros, angrily staring him down. "Our people were once as large as you humans until the Veo Prism was used. Now we exist as one of the smallest creatures on Bromak-7, our kind having to hide in fear of beasts that we once feasted on. You will be no different from the others if the Veo Prism is in your possession."

"We will not use the Veo Prism," Andros said firmly, suddenly finding it harder to breathe as the Broka leaf began to disintegrate in his mouth. "But we need the shards in order to protect the Veo Prism and to protect you as well."

"Protect us?"

"Do you believe that Astronema will not hesitate to destroy your planet and, with it, your people?" Andros asked. "If she knows that we have the shards, she will leave this place. If we are unable to get them, she will destroy your planet looking for them. Is that what _you_ want?"

"We don't have long before we have to return to the surface," Tommy said. "And we really need those shards… Please."

The Hyoplans began to glow brightly, tiny particles emanating from their bodies that accumulated and solidified into two triangular blue shards in front of the rangers. Tommy reached for them, grasping them tightly in his hand and watching the similarly-shaped emblem on his Veo morpher glow in their presence.

"I will return you to the surface now," Oelida said. "Your time here is quickly running out."

"Thank you," Andros said to the Hyoplans. "You won't regret this."

"Come now," Oelida said, swimming ahead of the rangers as she ascended upward. "I sense that your friends need you now."

***

"Satellite Stunner," Cassie called out, jumping over Ashley and Carlos as they finished their own attacks. She was able to knock down a few quantrons but more of them raced at the rangers.

There were almost forty quantrons now and the rangers had been fighting for several minutes, wondering where their Red Rangers were. If they were in danger, there was no way of knowing, as DECA had reported just moments ago that she had been unable to reach either of them by communicator and was unable to locate their energy on Bromak-7's surface. But the rangers knew that Andros and Tommy were strong enough to handle themselves and would join them as soon as they were able.

"Veo Tech Batons activate," Kim shouted, the pink energy shooting from the weapons and striking down a few quantrons. But more came her way and she flipped away from them, firing again as they neared her.

"Astro Axe," T.J. called, spinning toward a group of quantrons that came up behind Kim. His attack proved successful enough to knock them down, but still more quantrons took their places.

Astronema laughed as the rangers fought against her army, unworried that she might get caught in the crossfire and even less worried about the absence of the Red Rangers. She doubted that they would be able to win even with their help now. She was releasing quantrons in hoards and they would need more than just two more rangers to defeat them all.

Adam and Rocky released energy from their cannons, but even they were only able to rid themselves of a few quantrons before more of them came.

"Should we retreat?" Adam asked, aiming his Veo Tech Trio Cannon again and firing. This time, the green energy that came out of the barrels came out with such a strong force that it nearly knocked him back as it brought down ten quantrons in front of him. "Never mind," he said.

He and the other rangers looked around, knowing that their team leaders had returned with more power. And the Red Rangers came running to the fight, dripping wet as they placed their hands on their morphers.

Astronema narrowed her eyes at the two rangers, catching sight of the glowing Veo Prism shards in Tommy's hand. They had found the shards before her and now their power would increase –not good for her and her quantrons.

"Let's rocket!" Andros shouted, morphing and immediately calling for his Spiral Saber and striking down the quantrons as they ran at him.

"Veo Tech Time!" Tommy shouted, morphing and calling for his own Veo Tech Long-Sword and locking it onto its shield to increase its power like before. Only now, the sword pulsed in his hands as he came toward the quantrons, its power growing significantly as he struck at his targets, so much so that he could almost feel the power coursing through his veins.

The other Veo Tech Rangers raised their own weapons and fired, the now amplified blasts bringing down several of the quantrons that charged at them with their weapons.

"Silver Silverizer," Zhane shouted, firing blasts at the quantrons before setting his sights on Astronema, who disappeared as he ran to her.

"Quadroblaster –ready to fire," Carlos called, holding the combination of weapons in his hand with the other Astrorangers behind him.

"Spiral Saber Booster Mode –fire," Andros said, releasing the power of his weapon as the Quadroblaster was fired. More quantrons were knocked down, while the rest of them ran away, disappearing without a trace.

"Astronema got away," Zhane said, powering down with the others.

"It's all right," Andros said. "We got what we came for."

The rangers gathered around Tommy as he held out the Veo shards.

"They're not as big as I thought they'd be," Kim said.

"But they definitely packed a punch from what we saw," Cassie said. "I'm glad you got them before Astronema did."

"Yeah," Ashley agreed. "Where were they?"

"Underwater," Tommy answered, glancing at Andros. "And we kind of had a tough time getting them."

"You can say it," Andros said. "They didn't trust that I wouldn't use the Veo Prism. They worried about me changing the universe, their world in particular."

"You'd never get the chance to use it with us around," Zhane said with a smile, draping an arm playfully around his neck. "We're always watching you and don't you forget it."

He would not forget it, Andros thought to himself. The Veo Prism could change things that had already happened, something that might be useful to him. He had said '_we_ will not use the shards', hoping that they would not make him rephrase. As he already knew, the other rangers would not want to use it for anything, even in an emergency. But _he_ might if given the opportunity and the Hyoplans likely knew that well. They must have been able to sense it in him or read his mind.

As he had thought before, maybe he would destroy the Veo Prism and maybe he would not. Destroying it would certainly bring about a significant amount of peace, especially to those who knew how it had changed things. And there seemed to only be a handful of people who remembered both timelines. Now, all they had to do was figure out who else knew what had happened and get their next lead.


	8. Chapter 8

Ch 8

Andros sat on the bridge, staring down at the shards in his hands, shaking his head. Something was not right, he could not help thinking, though he did not know why. Maybe it was because they seemed so small to him as he held them or because of how quickly and easily he and Tommy were able to retrieve them. Breathing underwater was not a great feat for either of them and the Hyoplans would have given the shards to Tommy regardless of what they had concluded about Andros, he was certain of that.

He finally placed them on the console in front of him with a sigh. He did not feel any power coming from them like he had felt around the Veo morphers and the Am-Scanners had not identified anything especially powerful about them either. And that was bad.

"Andros?" Ashley called softly from behind him.

"I'm kind of busy, Ashley," he replied, pressing a few buttons on the console where the shards laid. "DECA, open communications with Wan."

Ashley looked down at the envelope in her hands with a sigh, but stood back as the screen flashed and Wan's face appeared.

"Where have you guys been?" Wan asked.

"We just got back to the ship," Andros said. "I thought I'd check in with you about the Veo shards."

"When did you get here to find the Veo shards?" Wan asked warily. "I've been waiting for you to come here ever since you contacted me about the Veo Prism shards."

Andros held up the two small blue shards on the console and held them up to the screen.

"What are those?" Wan asked, squinting to make out the triangular pieces.

Andros let out a sigh as he put the shards back on the console. "Fakes," he answered through gritted teeth. "You never saw us on Bromak-7 at all?"

"I was on the fourth moon –Syai," Wan explained. "When you didn't contact me again, I figured maybe you weren't coming for the shards."

Andros closed his eyes as his body shook with anger. "Are the Ka'ana Veo Prism shards on Hurya?"

"Yes," Wan said with a nod. "How did you know that?"

"They're gone," Andros said quietly to himself, shaking his head and opening his eyes to look at the faux shards. "She got to them first… How did she get there first?"

"Who?" Wan asked. "Who got here first?"

"Astronema," Andros answered. "And someone who disguised themselves as you on Bromak-7. They sent me and Tommy into the water with Oelida to get the shards from the Hyoplans. After they were convinced that I wouldn't use it, they gave us the shards."

"Hyoplans," Wan repeated. "They're the reason that I chose to live on Bromak-7's moons. They're worse than Astronema and I wouldn't put it past them to be working for her. As for the thing that impersonated me, I can only assume that it was one of her monsters. I constantly scan Bromak-7 for travelers after the shards but Astronema must have jammed my sensors."

"And we walked right into her trap," Andros muttered to himself. "Now she has the shards… That's probably why the Veo Tech Rangers got a power boost when they got to Hurya."

"I doubt that," Wan said. "The Veo powers get infinitely stronger over time. The Veo Prism is their power source, but it doesn't have to be nearby or repaired for the powers to work or get stronger. That's what 'Ka'ana' means – 'infinite power'."

Andros was quiet then and Ashley stepped forward, placing the envelope in her pocket. "Do you know where the other shards might be?" she asked timidly. "I'm sure that she'd be heading there next."

"Probably Onyx," Wan said. "And you would be wise to let her have any shards there."

"We can't do that," Ashley said. "If she uses the prism's power, who knows what'll happen. We have to get there first."

"I don't doubt your ability to find the shards on Onyx," Wan explained. "I doubt your ability to leave once the monsters sense the power from the Veo shards that you find there."

"Onyx is in a forbidden sector," Andros added. "It's a hangout for monsters and a dangerous place for any Power Ranger, regardless of their powers. But you're right. We have to get there before Astronema does."

"I hope that you do," Wan said. "And I wish you luck on your journey, rangers."

The screen went black and Andros slowly stood from his seat, staring down at the shards in front of him. Finally, his hand shot out and he sent the shards shattering to the ground as Ashley stood by and watched as he slammed his hands down on the console where the shards had been.

"I suppose we should tell the others," Ashley said with a sigh.

"Yeah," Andros said distantly. "We should tell the others… DECA, set a course for Onyx."

"The planet Onyx is in a forbidden sector and I am not permitted –" DECA began.

"DECA, set a course for Onyx –that's an order," Andros interrupted her angrily, "Maximum Hyper-Rush Velocity… We have to get there before Astronema does. And get the others here."

Without another word, DECA set the course for Onyx and the ship began turning around, speeding to its destination.

"How long will it take to get there?" Ashley asked uncomfortably.

"At this velocity, about two days," Andros answered, before turning sharply to her. "Didn't you come here to talk to me or something?"

"Oh, yeah," Ashley said, putting her hand into her pocket and pulling out the envelope with his name on it.

As soon as she held it out to him, he placed his own hands into his pockets, hoping to find it securely in his own pocket. When his pockets turned up empty, he angrily narrowed his eyes at Ashley as he snatched it from between her fingers.

"How'd you get this?" he asked as calmly as he could, though she could hear the suppressed anger in his voice.

"You dropped it earlier today," Ashley replied, barely making eye contact with him. "But we were on our way to Bromak-7 and I didn't want to distract you."

"This doesn't distract me," Andros said firmly. "People who keep things from me do, though… We've been back for at least an hour now. Why didn't you give it to me then?"

"I don't know," Ashley answered with a shrug, her eyes still cut away from him. "I guess I just didn't, that's all."

"Did you open it?" Andros asked, looking down at the envelope's untucked flap.

Ashley shook her head slowly.

"Did you open it?" he asked again more loudly.

"I said that I didn't," Ashley said softly, seeing the other rangers come in from the corner of her eye.

Andros lifted his head to see the rangers file into the room, placing the envelope into his pocket with a sigh. He glanced at Ashley, wondering if she might tell the others that he had yelled at her. But she was silent, not giving him a second glance as she turned to face the rangers.

"Is everything all right?" Tommy asked. "DECA kind of made it seem urgent."

"What did you do?" Kim asked, bending down to pick up pieces of the blue shards on the floor.

"Those aren't the Veo Prism shards," Andros explained. "Astronema has the real shards with her and sent a monster in Wan's place to meet us and send us in the wrong direction."

"So that wasn't your friend Wan that we saw?" Tommy asked. "But my morpher glowed when they gave us the shards."

"Your morpher probably glowed because the Veo powers were increasing," Andros said. "Or it may have been because we were close to the area where the sample on the ship was taken… The Hyoplans may have even been in on it."

"Then all that talk about them not trusting you with the Veo Prism was a lie?" Zhane asked. "You really wouldn't use it?"

"Of course not," Andros lied.

"Where are we headed in such a hurry?" T.J. asked, watching the stars rush by in several thin streams of light.

"Onyx," Andros answered. "It's the last place that the Veo Prism was seen whole and where it was sold."

"It's also the last place that we should be going to," Zhane pointed out. "We're really going there?"

"You scared or something?" Andros asked him in frustration. "Because we don't really have time for –"

"Andros, calm down," Zhane replied with a sigh. "There aren't close to enough of us to take on the monsters on Onyx and you know that. And if Astronema is waiting for us to join her there, then we're in even more trouble. Don't misunderstand me, we _have_ to go but we may as well prepare to be outmatched and outnumbered."

"We'll be ready," Andros said firmly. "We have two days to prepare and we're going to make good use of them. We can work out on the Simudeck after eating tonight and again in the morning."

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Tommy asked, eyeing Andros carefully as the anger Andros was desperately trying to control continued to build as it had during their sparring session earlier.

"Why not?" Andros asked. "Onyx is a _planet_ of monsters. We can't go in unprepared."

"What Tommy meant to say was 'no, this is a bad idea'," Kim said. "There's no use in tiring ourselves out training to fight a group of monsters that may have powers that we can't prepare for. Besides, no one's going to spar with you as long as you're this worked up."

"Then, I'll train alone," Andros said, brushing past the others to leave the bridge. "I don't care what the rest of you do."

The others stared after him, finally leaving the bridge to head for the workbay, except Zhane who called after a despondent Ashley.

"Is something the matter, Ashley?" he asked her when the others had gone.

"No," she replied without looking up at him. "Nothing's wrong."

"Well, what was he talking to you about before we came in?" Zhane asked. "And don't tell me it was nothing because I saw the way he was looking at you."

"Why is it that everyone else sees how he looks at me except me?" Ashley muttered softly to herself.

"What?"

"I gave him the envelope back," she said. "He'd dropped it this morning and I gave it back to him. I think he's just upset about the shards right now."

"Maybe," Zhane said. "Did you look at it, whatever was inside the envelope?"

"Have you ever seen it?" Ashley asked instead.

"No," Zhane replied, shaking his head. "I wouldn't even dream of coming near it. if he doesn't want to show me, then he might think that I can't handle it or it may be too personal to share with me. Either way, I stay far away from that envelope."

"You wouldn't want to know what was inside it?" Ashley asked.

"The temptation is there," Zhane sighed. "But I know better… I know how Andros can get when it comes to that envelope and anything else that reminds him of what he lost."

"Then, why did you give us the uniforms and morphers?" Ashley asked sharply. "Why did you make him hate us?"

"He doesn't hate you," he assured her. "Andros is just wallowing in self-pity as usual. If he yells or gets moody around you guys, it's not personal and it's definitely not hate."

"He told me that he didn't feel hate," Ashley said. "But that's what I feel when he looks into my eyes. He even told me that he doesn't want us here… No, he said 'you'… 'I don't want _you_ here'. That's what he said. It's me, isn't it?"

"Ashley, what's this all about?" Zhane asked. "You didn't seem to feel this way before we left this morning. What happened to make you feel like this? Did he say something else?"

Ashley shook her head. "Do I look like his fiancée?" she asked softly. "Do I remind him of her?"

"I think you might remind him a little," Zhane said. "But he doesn't hate you for that."

"But it's why he doesn't want me here," Ashley said as tears clouded her eyes. "I thought he could get past what happened to your friends, but he loved her… "

"Ashley, what is this really about?" Zhane asked. "What did he say to you?"

"He didn't have to say it," Ashley replied. "I look like his fiancée and he stares at me. That's why he stares at me, isn't it? The stares that everyone else sees but me… "

"Ashley, what is it?" Zhane asked as her face became wet with tears. "You –"

He cut himself off and studied her face carefully, seeing a pain there that he recognized in Andros all the time. "You looked inside the envelope, didn't you?"

"No," Ashley said through her tears. "I didn't see anything."

"Yes, you did," Zhane said quietly. "And you're hurting for him, _with_ him. What was in it?"

"I can't," Ashley said, shaking her head. "I'm not even supposed to know."

"It was bad, wasn't it?" Zhane asked as she continued to shake her head. "It was bad enough to hurt you, whatever it was… Does he know that you saw it?"

"No," Ashley replied. "And I don't want to talk about it with him. It hurts just thinking about it and I don't want to do that anymore either… But I'd like to see what she looked like."

"She's in the pictures on the wall in your room," Zhane said. "I know Andros never went into any of the rooms after the others –"

"Show me," Ashley said softly.

Zhane led Ashley to the Megalift, listening as her sniffles died away by the time they reached her room. When they stepped inside, Zhane looked around at the untouched room with a sigh, scanning the pictures on the walls his friends. After a moment, he pointed to a picture of a young woman who smiled and waved at the camera with her pinky.

"That's Arcadia," Zhane said.

Ashley stared silently at the photo, taking in every devastating feature that this woman had that made her special. Even the high ponytail that she wore now was reflected in the picture of Arcadia.

"You should take these pictures down," Zhane said, seeing the tears well up in Ashley's eyes again. "This is _your_ room now. And you can't relax in here as long as you see it as someone else's room. I'll help you if you want."

"It's fine, Zhane," she said. "But I think that I should relax a little now, maybe rest my eyes for a bit before I eat."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Go on," she said. "I'll be okay."

Zhane walked to the door, glancing back at Ashley, who faked a half-smile and lay down on her bed. She had taken some comfort in knowing that their faces were different, Ashley thought to herself, though the differences were not as different as she had hoped. And it was this woman that Andros saw when she could feel him staring at her and it was because Ashley was not Arcadia when she turned to face him that made him hate her.

And there was not anything that Ashley could do about it other than to change the part of her that Andros recognized in Arcadia.


	9. Chapter 9

Ch 9

Ashley had been quiet all day.

Too quiet.

In fact, for the past fourteen hours, Ashley had spent most of the night outside of her room, walking around the ship almost aimlessly. She had ventured nearly every room on the Astro Megaship in one night, looking for something or perhaps looking for nothing in particular.

And Andros had noticed.

Even as he sat on the bridge, he was using DECA's eyes around the ship to watch her, wondering what she could have possibly been up to. When he had first run into her earlier that morning, she had seemed a little off. She had acknowledged him with a glance before disappearing into the Megalift, though DECA had informed him later that she had only just arrived on the bridge moments before he had.

And what was stranger still to him was that she had been silent. In the five days that he had known her, she had never failed to speak out something that was on her mind. Even if she thought he might be angry or annoyed with her, she had always spoken to him anyway. But when she had looked up to see him on the bridge, she had cast her eyes down and hurried past him, saying nothing at all. And that was what had peaked his interest in her current activity.

Andros could tell in an instant that she had not slept that night at all, even before checking with DECA. Ashley's eyes had been swollen and red, something that he could see in the short time that he had seen her face. Something was bothering her.

But nothing had changed since yesterday that he could think of, except maybe…

Andros turned his head suddenly when a familiar scent filled the bridge followed by the sound of shuffling feet came from behind him. He must have been staring into oblivion for quite some time now. Ashley was no longer on the screen in front of him but behind him now, standing quietly by the door leading to the bridge.

"Ashley?" he asked, craning his neck to see her, stopping her in her tracks with his voice as she turned to walk away. "Ashley, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Without a word, Ashley walked onto the bridge and stood a few feet in front of Andros, her head down and her eyes cast away from him just as she had done before.

"Is everything okay?" Andros asked her after a moment.

Ashley nodded and said nothing.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes," Ashley said softly.

She was talking again, a good sign as far as he was concerned. "It's just that you seem a little… distant," he said. "I just wanted to make sure that nothing was wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," she said.

"Well, I was monitoring the ship earlier and it seemed like you might have been looking for something," Andros said.

"I was just a little bored," Ashley said. "I couldn't sleep, so I walked around for a while. That's all."

Andros let out a sigh and reached into his pocket, pulling out the envelope. "If this is about yesterday, I'm sorry if I yelled at you about this," he said. "But it's really important to me and –"

"You didn't yell," she said, glancing from her feet to the envelope in his hand. "And you don't have to explain anything about the envelope, Andros. If you don't want to talk about it, I don't either."

"But it's something that I did, right?" he asked. "I said something to make you mad."

"You didn't do anything, Andros," she said, shaking her head. "And I'm not mad or sad or whatever you think I am right now. I'm just… fine. Now, can I go?"

"Sure," Andros said, stuffing the envelope back into his pocket as Ashley gave it a last glance before leaving the bridge again.

Whatever was bothering Ashley, Andros could say without a doubt that it was something that he had done. But if she did not want to talk about it, there was not anything that he could do about it right now.

Andros turned back to the main viewing screen, shutting off the small screen that he had been using to watch Ashley as he wondered how much of what she had said had been a lie. Maybe she really was not sad, but she was definitely not in the best of moods at the moment.

The more he thought about it, the more concerned he felt. No, not concerned, he corrected himself. He just needed to make sure that it was not his fault that she felt that way. And she had assured him that she was just fine, though not very convincingly. So he kept thinking about it, just knowing that she would come back at any minute and tell him what was bothering her so much. And he sat there waiting for her even as his eyes begun the close…

***

_When Andros opened his eyes, he was still on the bridge and he let out a long sigh._

"_What's the matter?" Arcadia asked, coming up behind him and sitting on his lap. "You thought I wouldn't be here?"_

"_Well, the last time I saw you, you told me quite a few things that didn't make much sense to me," Andros replied. "And I'd like to steer clear of those topics if you don't mind."_

"_That's okay with me," she said with a nod. "I'd much rather talk about that Ashley girl this time."_

"_What?"_

"_That Ashley girl," Arcadia repeated with a smile. "She's obviously very important to you."_

"_No, she isn't," Andros said._

"_Then, why is she here?" she asked, nodding behind him._

_Andros swiveled around in his chair to face the doorway, finding Ashley leaning against the wall. She smiled at him and waved briefly before slowly backing out of the bridge._

"_What did she want?" Andros asked, unable to put aside his confusion through Arcadia's light kisses on his neck._

"_You're the one who called her here," Arcadia answered, running her fingers through his hair. _

"_I can't imagine why she would need to be here," Andros said. _

"_Because we're perfectly happy on our own," Arcadia agreed. "We don't care that she's upset, even if we're the ones that caused it."_

_Andros pulled back from her. "How did _we_ cause it?" he asked. "She was fine. You just saw."_

"_You see what you want to see," Arcadia said. "And Zhane's next, so be careful."_

"_What do you mean 'Zhane's next'?" he asked her as she got up from his lap and began to walk away._

"_Just be careful," she said._

***

"I am so tired of waking you up all the time," Zhane said as Andros' eyes fluttered open.

"Then, stop waking me," Andros replied, sitting up in his chair and taking a quick glance around to confirm that he was still on the ship's bridge.

"We're going to Onyx, Andros," Zhane said. "Things are getting very serious very fast… The guys and I decided that we should take a night to relax before we get there, maybe have a movie night or something. You kind of already missed the first one since DECA couldn't wake you… again."

"The Simudeck?" Andros asked.

"Yeah," Zhane confirmed.

"Is Ashley there?" he asked as he got to his feet.

"Of course," Zhane answered. "Why?"

"It's just… Did she seem a little…different today?"

"You mean, did I notice how quiet she's been since yesterday?" Zhane asked, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, I did… But she kept saying that she was okay, so I haven't tried to talk to her about it since this morning. That's why we all decided on relaxing for tonight. Something's weighing on her mind and I was hoping to help get her mind off of it. She seemed kind of tense… So are you in or not?"

"I'm in," Andros said, following Zhane to the Simudeck.

When they reached the Simudeck, everyone else was already there, sitting in the simulated beanbag chairs and on sleeping bags enjoying some very real buttered popcorn. Andros looked around, seeing the two spaces on the floor for him and Zhane in front of the large screen. Ashley would be sitting right behind him in a chair once he sat down and Andros glanced over at her, wondering if her mood might have changed. But she never looked his way, staring distantly at the screen as he and Zhane sat down on the floor.

"So, what are we watching?" Zhane asked.

"It's the same movie, Zhane," Cassie answered. "You missed the part where the guy gets sucked into the bed."

"Aw, man," Zhane whined a little. "That would've been cool."

"Scary stuff?" Andros asked.

"Some of it," Kim answered. "But I doubt any of these movies would scare you."

"I just want to make sure that I understand," Andros said, shaking his head. "We're _relaxing_ by watching scary movies all night?"

"Not _all_ night," Carlos said. "We agreed on some other types of movies too."

"But this is one of the better ones," Tommy said, passing Andros and Zhane a bowl of popcorn. "Unfortunately, it's also almost over now."

Andros took a handful of popcorn, eating it piece by piece until it was gone, watching the fairly gory movie about a monster with long metal claws and teenagers who fought to stay awake. It was actually interesting, to his surprise. And he could admit that he actually felt relaxed watching it instead of the ceiling as he had planned to do in his room.

Before he knew it, he had watched two more movies with them with sharks, psychos, and fiery explosions. He could not help feeling that these images were meant to frighten him, especially once the lights were turned off, but he found himself oddly excited whenever something unexpected or completely expected seemed to happen. It was almost… fun. And even he groaned in disappointment when T.J. announced that they were down to the last movie.

"Well, I have a few movies," Zhane said with a smile. "But they aren't very scary."

"Cool," Cassie said. "What are they about?"

"Did you want to see?" Zhane asked.

"Yeah, put it in," Aisha said as the others agreed.

Zhane walked up to the screen and pulled a tiny white disc from his pocket, placing it in the compartment on its side.

Andros looked up at the screen as the entire room seemed to go dark just as an orchestra of music filled the room and the title 'Mind Snatcher – a film by Zeke Ian' stretched across the screen and protruded out toward them in three dimensions. They must not have had holographic films on Earth, Andros assumed as the rangers gasped a little in awe.

The title sounded familiar, Andros thought to himself, trying to remember what it was about as more music played and credits seemingly rose up from the floor and disappeared into the ceiling. But as the music subsided and the opening credits ended, Andros' eyes widened as he suddenly remembered something important about the movie.

"We can't watch this," he said, leaning over to whisper to Zhane.

"Why not? It's a good movie," Zhane said.

"But Camilla's in it," Andros said.

"We all are," Zhane replied. "Besides, I like Camilla."

Andros shook his head with a sigh, sitting back up and looking at the screen as Camilla walked across the floor and smoothed down her hair, seemingly waiting for someone to walk up to her as she turned to no one. After a few moments and a quick gesture to someone offscreen, a holographic Andros stumbled into view, looking back at the extra hands that had shoved him with a frown.

"_Deas, it's been a while since I've seen you around," Camilla's character said to him. "What brings you here?"_

"_Harlequi called, said something about it being urgent," he said, rushing through his dialogue. "I wouldn't be here otherwise. Did she call you?"_

"_Mesmerus called me," Camilla replied. "He told me he was ready to make me an offer."_

"_Offer?"_

"_On his reason for living," Camilla said. "I've been waiting for an answer for two months now and now I'm finally close enough to get it."_

"_Or so you might think," a dark-haired teen said, jumping dramatically into frame with a smile and fake moustache_.

"Who's that?" Cassie asked Zhane.

"Tylan," he replied, shaking his head at the giggles that Tylan's entrance had caused on and off the screen. "He was the Blue Ranger. He was always a little melodramatic."

The rangers continued to watch the amateur movie, smiling as Tylan stumbled through his dialogue and broke out into cheesy monologues, usually laughing harder than his audience by the end of his scenes. Andros glanced around at the others, not feeling comfortable enough to laugh with them just yet, although it was pretty funny to him too. And even Ashley smiled a little, still seemingly not in the mood to laugh just yet, but she appeared to enjoy the movie as much as the others.

And Andros was okay watching it for now, he told himself. He was really okay. But it would very quickly turn into a test for him. Would he really be able to handle seeing Arcadia? But had just seen her in a dream and he had handled that well. And yet, somehow it would be different seeing her image protruding from the screen. In his dream, Arcadia was alive and they were happy. There was no feeling of loss when he was there.

But in front of _them_, the rangers that reminded him just by being there that his first team was gone forever, it was hard to see any of them onscreen and he wondered if he would be able to watch the rest of their horrible movie. He would know soon enough though. The movie was nearing its end and Arcadia's lines were coming up.

"_So you're the one that I was looking for all this time?" Andros asked someone out of frame with a sigh. "I can't believe it was you."_

_Walking gracefully into view was Arcadia, wearing a paper crown on her head. "Of course it was me, Deas," she said with a smile. "I told you then that I would never leave you. And I've stayed true to my word."_

"_Except… I'm not Deas," Andros said to her, stepping closer to her. "Can't you look into my eyes and see that?"_

"_Irosin?" she questioned as he held her hand. "Is it really you?"_

"_It is," he answered, gradually improving his acting as he looked into her eyes. "Deas has been gone for some time now, at least seven years. And he was the one who tried to drown Mesmerus, but I knew no one would ever believe me. And he never loved you like I did… So I used the power of the Shuwan Challis to switch minds with Deas and I've been watching over you ever since."_

"Turn it off," Andros whispered to Zhane, staring at Arcadia with tears in his eyes.

"Why?" Zhane asked, not bothering to notice his friend's tears. "There's only thirty more minutes."

"Turn it off," Andros said louder as his character and Arcadia's faces slowly came toward each other in a kiss. "Turn it off, now."

"It's almost over," Zhane said. "And my part's coming up."

"Then forward to your part," Andros said angrily. "I don't want to see this anymore."

"Andros, I know you feel like –" he began.

"Stop simulation," Andros said firmly as he got to his feet, making the screen, chairs, and sleeping bags immediately disappear before walking over to the small panel. He walked back to Zhane after ejecting his disc and dropped it into his lap. "You can watch something else."

Zhane stood up angrily. "What's wrong with you?" he asked. "Can't we do anything without you ruining it with your inability to let things go?"

"I told you that I didn't want to see that movie," Andros said. "I had hoped that you cared enough about me as a friend to put in something different. But I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by that. You didn't care about how I might feel when you invited these people onto our ship or when you handed out our friends' rooms and clothes. You didn't even see how I might feel about seeing Arcadia when you started the film."

Zhane glanced around at the other rangers, who either pretended to not listen or who lowered their eyes guiltily, and Zhane narrowed his eyes at Andros. "I thought that you might feel the way I feel when I'm reminded of them or when I see them in stuff like this –happy. I like remembering how much fun we used to have together in this room and I thought that I would share a few of those memories with our new friends, who never got to know our team. I didn't do this to upset you."

"But you didn't even ask me if I thought it might bother me," Andros yelled. "I lost –"

"Shut UP," Zhane shouted over him and all eyes were immediately on him. "I have listened to you whine all year about what _you_ lost and how _you_ feel. But you're not the only person who lost someone, Andros! I lost Camilla and Arcadia and Tylan and Zeke just like you did. And I've tried to do everything your way since then, following orders from you like your Second-in-Command because you made me feel like I had failed as a leader. But somewhere along the way you forgot that_ I_ led our team six years before that without issue."

"The team that isn't around anymore?" Andros snapped back.

"Say that again," Zhane said, walking up to him.

Adam stood up and put a hand between them to separate them, being the closest one to them at the moment. "Calm down, guys," he said. "We can't fight Astronema on different teams. We have to prepare for Onyx tomorrow and we're going to need each other to get out of that place alive."

"He's right," Cassie said, tugging at Zhane's pants leg from where she sat. "We can watch something else. We'll watch the end of the movie some other time when Andros is ready. It's okay."

"When Andros is ready," Zhane repeated, shaking his head and walking out of the room. "Unbelievable."

"I'll be on the bridge," Andros said after he heard Zhane's footsteps fade away to nothing.

He breezed past the others with a heavy sigh, none of them daring to look at him as angry as he seemed. Even then, Andros glanced back at them, knowing that at least Ashley would go after him armed with words that he was in no mood to hear. But when he turned around, he found that she was no longer on the Simudeck with the others. In fact, he had not remembered seeing her at all anymore once the lights had come back on and he had ended the movie.

He really did not care that she had left, he thought to himself as he stormed to the Megalift and waited to arrive on the bridge, sitting down in his usual seat. He did not need her opinion anyway, nor did he want it. The last thing that he needed was her showing up and telling him that he needed to apologize and make things right between him and Zhane. It was the last thing he –

Andros turned around suddenly as the bridge filled slowly with a familiar scent.

"Ashley?" he called out to the nothingness that he saw behind him, hearing the nothingness answer him with silence.

Andros turned back and rested his head in his arms, closing his eyes and hoping that Arcadia could help him relax more than movie night did. He did not need answers now, just good old-fashioned sleep, he decided suddenly. He did not need to talk now and Ashley was the last person that he wanted to hear anything from, he decided. It was not as though she could really understand what he was going through.

Andros momentarily lifted his head as Ashley's scent faded from the bridge and rested his head again with a sigh.

But if Ashley did want to talk his ear off about things he did not want to hear about his relationship with his friend, he was not sure that it would be the worst thing that she could do, he decided, even if it was the last thing he wanted to hear.


	10. Chapter 10

Ch 10

Zhane glared up at his bedroom door as he heard a light knock come from behind it.

But he knew it could not be Andros. He never came back to apologize. It was always Zhane who had to apologize first. And why should he have to? Andros had started it.

He shook his head at himself, knowing how much more juvenile it would have sounded aloud. But it had always been that way. Andros had always pulled him back to that point between feeling like a kid and feeling like a sidekick. There was that feeling of not being needed and the feeling that he was just tagging along out of some obligation Andros felt he had to him.

It was a sad place to be and Zhane always seemed to be there now. Even when Zhane had led the last Astroranger team, Andros would point out little flaws in front of their friends as if it were no big deal. Except it _was_ a big deal to Zhane. It was a very big deal even if he never said so.

The light knocking at his door resumed and Zhane softly asked DECA to unlock it and allow it to open for the person waiting on the other side. The door slid open after a moment and Cassie stepped inside the door, not speaking until the door closed behind her.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"Shouldn't you be checking on Ashley?" Zhane asked instead. "She walked out way earlier than I did and I know she's been kind of down lately."

"I checked on her already," Cassie said. "She insists that she's fine and I have no choice but to believe her obvious lie. And so, I wanted to make sure that you were okay."

"I'll be okay eventually," he replied with a sigh. "I don't think that I'm ready to talk to _him_ yet, but I'm getting there."

"Well, that's good," Cassie said, pausing for a minute. "And just for the record, I think we're done watching movies together for a while."

"I'm sorry about that," Zhane said. "I didn't think he would react that way over a movie."

"I did," Cassie replied, leaning against his wall. "It wasn't just any movie, Zhane. It was one of the last things you guys did together… We all know that Andros didn't take losing the team very well. He just needs more time. When he's ready to talk about it –"

"When _he's_ ready?" Zhane asked sharply. "Why do I have to wait until _he's_ ready? It's like no one understands how hard I took losing the team too."

"I'm not saying that you didn't," Cassie said, wishing she had chosen her words more carefully. "But you're taking it better than Andros is."

"No, I'm not," Zhane said. "I'm just better at hiding it than he is. But do you know how many times I've watched that stupid movie we did? …Every night for the past eight months. And the only reason I watch it is because I can't talk to him about it. I wasted four whole months trying to get Andros to talk about what happened."

"But he wasn't ready?" Cassie guessed.

"He wouldn't talk to me," Zhane said, lowering his eyes. "Not about anything… Then one day, out of the blue, he started barking orders at me. So I figured that it was okay because at least he was talking to me again. But he didn't want to talk about what had happened to our friends at all. I asked him about that stupid envelope he carries all the time and he stopped talking to me again. And what you just saw between us was the closest we've been to talking about what happened since then."

"Is that what you need?" Cassie asked quietly. "You need to talk about it?"

"I don't know," he replied with a shrug. "I've never had the option to talk about it. But it has to feel better than saying nothing at all."

"Well, what about DECA?" Cassie suggested, glancing up at one of the A.I.'s cameras in the corner of Zhane's room. "She has all that psychological training that she bragged about after we got here, right?"

"DECA's great to talk to," Zhane began. "But she isn't a person, so she doesn't know what pain feels like. She _can't_ understand it. It's just a known fact about humans for her; we feel pain that isn't always physical… And because of that, it's hard to swallow her logic all the time. You start feeling like a patient after a while and I don't need a psychiatrist… All I wanted was one talk with my best friend, if only to find out if we're still best friends."

"Well, you can always talk to me," Cassie said timidly. "I mean, if you want to talk now… or whenever you feel like talking."

Zhane looked over at Cassie with a small smile. "I don't think that I should," he said, shaking his head. "I don't think I could do that to you."

"Why not?" she asked, walking over to him and sitting on the edge of his bed as tears began to fill Zhane's eyes. "I'm a good listener. Besides, it would be good practice for what you want to say to Andros. Without practice, you might forget what you wanted to say and just start hitting him or something."

Zhane smiled a little wider in spite of his sadness and shook his head at her. "That would probably be more therapeutic than talking it out," he said. "But I can't dump all of that stuff on you. It's bad enough that I'm whining to you about this now… I'll be okay, Cassie."

There was a long silence between them and Cassie sat staring down at her feet, hoping that the right thing would come out of her mouth. The last thing she wanted was to upset him more. But he was already losing the fight with his tears as one strayed from the others and fell down his cheek, making him turn his head quickly to hide it from her.

"It was my fault," he whispered, stifling a sob. "They're gone because of me."

"It wasn't your fault," she whispered back. "You couldn't know what would happen."

"I should've known," he replied. "I should've known…"

"I'm not going to sit here and listen to you blame yourself for what happened to your friends," Cassie said gently. "But I _will_ sit here with you until I can convince you otherwise."

Without another word, Cassie reached for his hand, squeezing his fingers in comfort as he slowly turned back to her. They looked into each others' eyes for a moment before Zhane finally rested his head on her shoulder, still gripping her hand tightly and closing his eyes.

She could feel his heartbeat quicken as he took in a breath and she suddenly felt an increasing dampness on her shoulder. Zhane's tears fell more quickly and he seemed to sink deeper into Cassie's shoulder as she rested her head on his.

***

"That was intense," Aisha said as the Simudeck transformed into five comfortable beds. She and the other Veo Tech Rangers had been sitting quietly, still in shock over what they had just seen and heard.

"Yeah," Adam agreed. "I didn't know Zhane could get that mad. He just doesn't seem the type."

"I guess he has some anger to work through too," Tommy said with a shrug.

"I'll say," Kim said with a nod. "I was waiting for a fist fight."

"It's still early," Aisha replied. "Anything can happen between now and when we get to Onyx."

"If they're still mad at each other by the time we get to Onyx, then we may be in trouble," Tommy said. "We're depending on them to lead us and if they can't work together, then someone's going to get hurt."

"So… we're letting two emotionally disturbed rangers lead both teams?" Rocky asked. "Anybody else starting to rethink things?"

No one responded to his questions, knowing that 'rethinking things' was not an option. It was not as if they knew enough about space to take off on their own. They did not even have a ship of their own. They needed the Astrorangers, no matter what problems seemed to be surfacing between their leaders.

"Maybe we're being a little harsh, guys" Tommy said after a while. "They aren't that bad. Besides, this is the first real fight between them that we've seen."

"Didn't you say that Andros tried to hurt you when you were sparring?" Kim asked.

"He tried to hurt you?" Aisha asked.

"But he didn't," Tommy pointed out. "I think that he was just a little angry about seeing me in his uniform. And who can blame him? I wouldn't want to see anyone wearing your clothes if you were all… gone."

"I can't even imagine what I would do if something happened to you guys," Kim said, shaking the thought from her head.

"Me neither," Tommy said.

"That's why I changed my mind about the morphers," Kim said. "I knew that I wouldn't be able to stand being away from Tommy, especially while he was out risking his life with you guys… And maybe it sounds crazy, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that something bad could happen and I wouldn't even get to say goodbye."

"You didn't want this?" Adam asked.

Kim shook her head guiltily. "You did?" she asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Adam asked incredulously. "I've been waiting for this for a long time. School's fun and I had plenty of hobbies, but there wasn't anything else out there that made me feel like… like this. Before I was a ranger, I wasn't heading toward anything special. I didn't even know if I had any useful talents. But once I became the black ranger, I had a purpose and a use for all that martial arts that I learned… I helped people."

"That's how I felt," Aisha said. "I knew that I had to go to college, and I still want to go, but I don't know what I want to do. As a ranger, I'm doing exactly what I want to do. So, I didn't hesitate when you guys called about the morphers. I couldn't wait."

"Well, I didn't want to come back," Rocky said. "And as much as I loved fighting with you guys, I hated some of the things that came with being a ranger. You don't have time to do what you want and you can't tell anyone that you're a ranger –not a best friend or a girlfriend, not even our parents… It could get kind of smothering, I guess."

"When you walked out of that café, I didn't think that we'd see you again," Aisha said.

"Why'd you change your mind?" Adam asked.

"I couldn't just abandon my friends," he replied. "I'd have never forgiven myself if I had… And I needed some closure on this. I left because I had to, not because I wanted to. And when I left it behind, it was like putting away Christmas lights –they're hidden, but they're still there. When I leave this, I have to know that I'm really done and it has to be because I _want_ to."

"I don't want to leave," Tommy admitted softly. "I actually wouldn't mind being a ranger for the rest of my life. I mean, there are plenty of things that I'd want to do for a living, but it's like Adam said –there's nothing that I could do that would make me feel like this. I missed fighting with you all by my side and I'm glad that we still have the chance to do it again."

"Me too," Kim agreed with a smile.

"Yeah," Rocky said. "I guess I am too."

"So are we," Aisha said, glancing over at Adam, who nodded in agreement.

"You know, I was thinking the other night," Adam began with a sigh. "Andros' friend Wan had said that the previous Veo Tech Rangers had protected the Veo Prism until they were sure that no one would ever look for it again… So, I started wondering, how long are we going to have to look after this thing?"

"Well, we're supposed to destroy it," Kim said. "Once it's gone, no one will be able to use it anymore."

"You're telling me that we're risking our lives and putting on morphers for a temporary assignment?" Adam asked, shaking his head. "We're in this for the long haul, guys. I can feel it."

"Then, you don't want to destroy the Veo Prism?" Aisha asked.

"Should we?" Rocky asked with a shrug. "It's pretty powerful and we don't have to destroy it as long as we get one shard. If it can't be completed, then it can't be used, right?"

"Then it's settled," Adam said. "We fly through space and protect the Veo Prism for the rest of our lives."

"The rest of our lives, Adam?" Kim asked with a smile. "Do you think you can hold out for that long?"

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "Maybe just until I can't do it anymore."

"Sounds good to me," Tommy said. "So maybe when I'm about eighty years old. I ought to be settled by then, right?"

The rangers laughed at themselves as they lay on their beds, though they had to consider the fact that the Veo shards might be harder to find than they thought. It could take them months or years to find them all. But they had decided at least that they would keep fighting together and that the universe would always need them to be Power Rangers.


	11. Chapter 11

Ch 11

_Andros let out a sigh as he opened his eyes and found himself on the floor in the middle of his bedroom._

_He was nowhere close to the place that he had hoped he would dream about. His last thoughts before falling asleep were of the beautiful parks of KO-35 and of holding his beautiful Yellow Astroranger in his arms. But Arcadia was nowhere around and he was not on KO-35._

_He sat there a while, waiting for Arcadia to show up at any moment as she had in the past. But minutes went by and she never came. It was the most boring dream he had ever had._

_Finally, after several failed attempts to wake up, a knock came on his bedroom door. It slid open before he could answer the knock and both Arcadia and Ashley stepped into his room in matching Yellow Ranger uniforms, looking down at him with frowns on their faces._

"_What's going on?" Andros asked, standing from his spot on the floor and glancing back and forth between the two of them._

"_You've made a mistake, Andros," Arcadia said. "You need to apologize to us."_

"_What mistake?" Andros asked._

"_We're not the same person," Ashley replied softly. "Arcadia and I are two different people."_

"_I know that," he said. _

"_Then, why are we dressed alike?" Arcadia asked him, pointing down at her yellow shirt._

"_You were both Yellow Rangers," Andros answered. "And I didn't dress you alike."_

"_You have no idea how much power you really have over us, do you?" Ashley asked softly, reaching into her pocket and holding up the envelope with his name on it._

_Andros narrowed his eyes at her and snatched the envelope away. "Why do you have this again?" he asked angrily._

"_Why won't you let go of it?" Arcadia asked in return. "Keeping it doesn't change anything and it'll only cause us to hate you."_

"_You would hate me, Arcadia?" Andros asked, somewhat hurt by her choice of the word 'hate'._

"_I hate you now," she answered gently. "As I told you before, your memory of me is wrong. Things were different than you remember. You would know that if you ever talked to Zhane about what happened."_

"_Zhane and I aren't speaking right now," Andros replied gently. "And if you would just tell me what isn't the same with us, I can fix it and –"_

_Arcadia put a finger to his lips, immediately stopping his words. "I told you before that I don't know anymore than you do," she said, flicking the envelope in his hand with two fingers. "But if I were you, I'd destroy that first before you lose your friends over it."_

"_My 'friends' don't know what it is," Andros said._

"_You'll tell us before long," Ashley said. "But you're sure to lose us before you get the chance to explain things."_

"_So what is it that you want me to do?" he asked in frustration._

_Arcadia walked up to him and snatched the envelope back from him. "Bury it," she yelled at him. "Just bury it!"_

***

Andros woke up with a start, the first time in a while that he was able to wake himself up from a dream about Arcadia. Usually Zhane would have shaken him awake by now, complaining that he had slept through something important. But as he glanced around the bridge and found himself still alone, he quickly remembered why he was there and that Zhane was not going to be talking to him for a while.

Bury it…

Bury what? The dream was already a distant blur now, with only a few words standing out to him. All he could really recall was Ashley and Arcadia being angry with him over something that he needed to bury.

For the next few minutes, Andros thought about the dream, not sure that he wanted to drift back into it as long as both women were angry with him. Arcadia had never been that angry with him before in real life, let alone in one of his dreams. And he still did not know what he could have done to make Ashley so upset. Even in a dream, it was enough to make him feel kind of… well, kind of bad.

He closed his eyes for a while as he thought, leaning his head back in his seat and eventually drifting back to sleep. When his eyes opened again, he could hear the beeps coming from the console behind him and he turned around to find Zhane pressing some buttons behind him.

"Zhane?" he called out softly as his eyes completely opened and he focused on the image of his friend.

Zhane glanced at Andros and then back to the screen in front of him. "I'm just double-checking a few things before we get to Onyx," he said with a sigh. "I'll be out of your way in a second."

"No," Andros said, sitting up in his seat and swiveling around to face Zhane. "I, um, I actually wanted to talk to you about something."

"You mean you aren't done talking down to me yet?" he asked, keeping his eyes forward at the screen.

"We have to talk about what happened last night," Andros said. "We can't go to Onyx angry with each other. If anything were to happen to either of us and we were still mad at each other –"

"What do you want to say?" Zhane interrupted.

Andros let out a breath before starting, his mouth suddenly becoming dry at the thought of apologizing. "We both said some things that we didn't mean –"

"Speak for yourself," Zhane interrupted again, meeting Andros' eyes. "I didn't say anything that I wouldn't say again, so don't apologize for me."

"Fine," Andros said uncomfortably. "Well, I _did_ say some things that I wish I hadn't. So, I'm sorry."

Zhane shook his head gently. "I'm not even mad about what you said," he said. "I don't care if you blame me for what happened to our friends. I don't care if you never show me what's inside that stupid envelope. And I really don't care if you mean this apology or not. I'm only angry because I'm tired of not being able to talk to you about what happened to our friends that day."

Andros lowered his head a little. "I want to talk about it," he said softly. "I just can't do it yet… But I want to."

"Why can't you?" Zhane asked.

"Because you already know how I felt about what happened," he answered. "You know how I feel now… And I feel like that isn't what you mean when you say that you want to talk about it." Andros pulled the envelope from his pocket and tossed it to Zhane, who caught it between two fingers.

"Are you giving me your official permission to look at this?" Zhane asked, glancing down at it.

"I wanted to show you when I found it in my room that day," Andros said with a sigh. "But I could barely bring _myself_ to look at it… It was easier to deal with on my own, I guess."

"By shutting me out?" Zhane asked. "That made it easier on you?"

Andros shrugged. "Maybe," he replied. "But that's not how _you_ deal with things. I had forgotten that… So if you really want to talk about it, we can talk about it."

"I don't want to talk about it right now," Zhane said, shaking his head. "I spent way too much time and energy talking about it last night with Cassie. I'm actually pretty exhausted… But I want to ask you one thing before we leave for Onyx."

"Sure," Andros said.

"Do you really blame me for our friends' deaths?" he asked, analyzing the look on Andros' face and scanning for evidence of a lie.

"I used to," Andros admitted in a small voice. "I really used to. But I blamed them and myself too. It just seemed so reckless, letting them on our ship. We barely questioned them and I can't help wondering if things might have been different if we had… But now I don't think that it would have made a difference one way or another. Those monsters would have found a way onto our ship even if we hadn't fallen for their trap… We're not always on guard and it shouldn't be that way or we'll miss out on –"

"Hold on," Zhane interrupted, a look of confusion on his face. "Between last night and this morning, you gained that much insight? How?"

"I've spent more than enough time and energy thinking about all of this too," Andros answered. "I've been practicing this speech in my head for the past ten months, but I… I couldn't say it then."

"You really want me to see this?" Zhane asked, holding up the envelope.

"Yeah," Andros said. "I need you to… then maybe I won't feel so alone in this."

Zhane opened the flap of the envelope and pulled out the thin piece of paper inside, staring at it for a while. His expression was blank and then one of confusion as he turned the paper to one side and then the other. He squinted at it and brought it toward his face and then away from it.

"You don't know what it is either," Andros said with a small smile. "It's okay. I didn't know what it was when I first looked at it. DECA had to tell me."

"What is it?" Zhane asked, staring at the black-and-white picture of grainy fuzz in front of him.

Andros stood up from his seat and walked to where Zhane stood, placing a finger on the edge of the picture. "Follow my finger," he said softly.

Zhane nodded as Andros began moving his finger along the picture in a series of squiggles and loops. "Do you see it yet?" he asked, looking up at him again.

"Not really," Zhane replied. "What is it?"

Andros pointed at the picture again, this time outlining something round. "This is a head," he sighed softly.

"It's a sonogram," Zhane said sadly. "She was…"

Andros nodded sadly. "That's why," he said, his eyes filling with tears. "That's why I couldn't deal with this. I just couldn't understand it, you know?"

"Understand what?"

"She printed this for me," he began, placing the sonogram back inside the envelope as a few of his tears fell. "That means that she knew about it before we landed on Wateth to fight those monsters. She knew that she was putting herself at risk by fighting… And now I'll never know why she let it happen. I'll never know what she was thinking."

"I'm sorry," Zhane said. "I didn't know… Is that why she was so distant around that time –she didn't know how to tell you about it?"

"I guess so," Andros answered, stuffing the envelope back into his pocket and wiping his tears away. "But I guess I'll never know."

"No," Zhane agreed, resting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I guess you never can."

***

A couple of hours had gone by slowly before DECA finally informed the rangers that they were within orbit of the planet Onyx. At least a half-hour before, she had insisted on announcing to them how dangerous and forbidden Onyx was. And the rangers had successfully tuned her out, not needing to be psyched out of this mission. They had to get to the Veo Prism shards before Astronema.

In spite of their initiative to get to Onyx as soon as possible, the rangers were all a little nervous. The plan was simple enough –they would stay together unless they were forced to split up by the monsters. The rangers would keep a low enough profile so as not to attract any monsters, which would be easy enough. No one knew they were coming and no one knew what the Power Rangers looked like demorphed. But it was not the plan that worried them.

They were more than used to defending a planet attacked by a monster or two, but they had never had to defend themselves against an entire planet of monsters before. So to pass the time, they went over their plans again and again, hoping that their nervousness would fade over time. But there was little time for that to occur and by the time DECA announced their arrival, they were more nervous than before.

They were more tense as they teleported from the Megaship, landing in front of what appeared to be a tavern on Onyx. They had all agreed not to morph, an obvious measure to keep a low profile, but eleven humans walking around the monster-infested planet was more than enough to catch the attention of any who happened to see them. But none of the monsters dared to confront them. If the humans did not start trouble, neither would they.

"We're not getting anywhere," Andros said after a while, lowering the Am-Scanner in his hand. "We won't be able to search this entire planet without one of these monsters starting trouble for us. We need more of a lead than this."

"We agreed that being patient was important for this mission," Zhane said.

"Yeah, well what do you want to do, go inside and start asking questions?" Cassie asked with a scoff, but when she looked to Andros for an answer he was already gone.

The rangers exchanged glances and hurried into the closest tavern to them, hoping that this would not turn into a search-and-rescue for Andros. They did not have time to revisit every building they had passed, nor would it be safe to do so. His impatience was already getting them into trouble.

By the time they walked inside, Andros had already made his way to the other side of the room, having caught the eye of every monster in the place. Now the monsters turned to the rangers standing at the entrance, staring daggers into them as they cautiously passed by them and made their way to Andros.

Andros had come upon a monster with bright yellow eyes and a haunting smile that seemed to fade a little as the Red Ranger approached him.

"What do you want, human?" it asked, turning back to its drink.

"I'm not here to start any trouble," Andros replied.

"Coming here and looking like that, you're asking for nothing _but_ trouble," it said. "And I don't do favors for humans… especially Power Rangers"

"And I don't do favors for things like you," Andros replied. "But I'll do you a favor if you do one for me."

"There isn't anything that you can do for me," it said, finishing the last of its drink and tossing the cup over the counter where he sat.

"Actually, there _is_," Andros corrected him. "You see my friends behind me? They're all rangers too and I'm sure you know how much we hate monsters… All we need is information so if you help us, we'll walk out of here and forget that this place even exists. This place remains your sanctuary… But if you decide that you won't help us, we can't promise to be so kind before we leave here."

The monster stood from his stool and turned to Andros slowly. "Sounds like an empty threat to me," it growled. "Because I have friends too, most of them all around you and your friends. And you already know how we feel about you… So we remain at a standstill, I'm afraid."

Zhane leaned forward and pulled Andros back a little by his shirt. "Let's just go," he said before Andros could throw out another threat. "He's not going to tell us anything."

"Everything has its price," Andros said, pulling himself from Zhane's grasp. "What else do you want? Jewels? Viliars? Credits?"

"That depends on what you're looking for," the monster said with a laugh.

"Veo Prism shards," Andros said, walking back up to him.

"You need to know where they are?" it asked. "If I knew that, I'd have them myself."

"We don't have time for this," Kim hissed at him. "The point was to stay _out_ of trouble, wasn't it?"

"I'm afraid it's too late for that," the monster said, drawing a sword from its sheath and pointing it at the rangers as several other monsters surrounded them.

"We didn't come here to fight," T.J. said carefully as he and the others attempted to back away slowly.

"Really?" Andros asked. "Because I kind of did."

"So did I," the monster laughed, holding out a hand and sending the rangers flying back with a single blast of energy that tore through the tavern's wall.

The monster laughed again and approached the rangers as they slowly got back to their feet, ignoring the chaos he had created by destroying the tavern. Luckily for the rangers, most of the other monsters had decided not to involve themselves in this fight, knowing the reputation of the Power Rangers to win fights like these. Even with there being more of them than of the rangers, many of them saw it as a losing battle and ran off to find another tavern.

But seven other monsters remained, all with similar piercing yellow eyes and haunting smiles on their faces as they laughed at the rangers. For a moment, they seemed somewhat familiar to Andros and he stared at them, ultimately deciding that it did not matter if he knew them. They would be destroyed soon enough.

"Veo Tech Time!" he heard Tommy shout from behind him.

"Let's rocket!" Andros called out reflexively.

With a flash, the rangers were morphed, their weapons drawn and pointed at the monsters that continued to laugh at them evilly.

"We're going to have fun wiping the smiles off your faces," Andros said, lifting his Spiral Saber.

"You must not know who we are," one of the monsters said. It stepped forward as it became engulfed in light that faded quickly around it, revealing its latest image –Wan.

Three of the other monsters stepped forward, enveloped by the same bright light and revealing a human body –three humans that were not familiar to the other rangers except for Andros and Zhane.

"Tsukon, Darkonda, and Mirit," Zhane remembered.

"So you _do_ remember us," Darkonda laughed. "That's good. Then I don't have to remind you that we've taken out your kind before… and quite easily if I remember."

"'Our kind' has changed a lot since then," Tommy said, powering up his sword. "Let's get 'em, guys."

The Veo Tech Rangers ran at the monsters first, sending powerful blasts at the creatures that dared to brag about destroying Power Rangers. The Astrorangers followed, led by Zhane and Andros, guided by the memory of their fallen friends.

These were the beasts that had killed their friends, Andros kept thinking to himself with every strike. They were the reason that he would never see Arcadia again. They were the reason that he was not a father. These vile beings were the reasons for all the misery in his and Zhane's lives. And they had to be destroyed.

Things were going well for the rangers at first, combining their weapons and firing all at once. After several successive blows, two of the seven monsters were down, neither of which included Darkonda, Tsukon, or Mirit. It seemed that the rangers could not count on the Veo Powers increasing anytime soon. But a half-hour in and with two monsters down, they felt like they were winning.

But after a while, their efforts only seemed to anger the monsters, who seemed to barely put forth any effort at all. They were stronger than other monsters the rangers had fought in the past, showing little or no signs of weakening during the fight as it lingered on for another half-hour.

Another hour in, a third monster was destroyed and the rangers still felt outnumbered. Unless they planned to fight another two to three hours, these monsters would not be destroyed anytime soon and the rangers were quickly beginning to show signs of tiring.

"Come on, guys," Andros said when a blast from the Veo Tech Rangers' blasters failed to phase Tsukon. "Just hang in there. Try the Quadroblaster again."

"Andros, we've already tried that," Carlos said, catching his breath after rolling away from several of Mirit's energy attacks.

"I think it's time to retreat," Tommy said, kicking Darkonda away from him. "We're not going to win this today and these things don't have the shards."

"We can do this," Andros exclaimed just as Tsukon released another powerful blast from his eyes that sent the rangers to the ground.

"Andros, we have to retreat," he heard Tylan call to him.

Not Tylan, Andros realized suddenly, shaking his head. It was T.J.

"We have to get back to the ship," Zeke agreed, putting a hand on Andros' shoulder.

No, not Zeke, Andros corrected himself again. It was Carlos' voice he had heard this time. Maybe it _was_ time to get back to the ship, he decided, watching the Astrorangers demorph involuntarily after another blast from Darkonda and Mirit. The blasts had burned through their rangers suits, as evidenced by their scorched clothing. But their faces had changed. Andros rubbed his eyes as the Astrorangers began to transform into the former Astroranger team, beaten, facedown on the ground, and unmoving.

The Veo Tech Rangers still had power; they were still morphed. But the fight was over now. The Megaship awaited them and they had not found a single shard of the Veo Prism.

It had to be here, Andros said to himself, glaring at the smirking monsters. There had to be at least one shard. They could not have come all this way to find nothing and be defeated. There had to be _something_ here, even if it was just information.

"Andros," he heard Ashley called to him suddenly.

He turned around to her, surprised that she was talking to him again and even more surprised that she did not look like Arcadia at the moment. Andros watched her run toward him, still calling to him and waving her arms in an effort to get his attention.

But within seconds of her reaching him, he felt the sharp pain that accompanied a combined blast of energy from the monsters and fell to his knees. Before everything went dark, he thought he saw Ashley fall by him and he lifted his hand in an attempt to reach out to her. However, he found his arm to be as heavy as his eyelids and he was suddenly still on the ground, his eyes closing as he heard Zhane calling his name in panic.

***

Andros opened his eyes to intense brightness, squinting them a little as he finally gathered enough strength to open them all the way. He stretched out his arms, his knuckles scraping against something metal on his right. He turned his head just as the silver tray rolled away from him slightly. He sat up slowly and looked around with a sigh. He was in the infirmary.

He could not figure out why he could have possibly been there, though he gathered that he must have been hurt. It hurt to think about it though and he brought his hand up to his head, retracting it at the sudden sharp pain that it caused him. He must have hit his head, he determined as he brought a few fingers up to the bandages on his head.

"I don't remember getting hit on the head," Andros said softly to himself.

"You were out by then," Zhane said, making him jump. "Now lay back down. You're going to rip your stitches open."

"I don't remember getting hurt that badly," Andros said, though he lay back on the table. "I barely remember anything about it at all."

"Like I said, you weren't conscious for a lot of it," Zhane said. "But Darkonda caused a lot of damage to you and Ashley before we were able to get to you."

"Ashley?" Andros repeated, turning to his left and wondering how he had not noticed her lying on the table beside him.

"She jumped in front of you," Zhane explained. "She took the brunt of the blast… There wasn't much that we could do for her."

"She's not –" he asked, suddenly recalling her warning to him before she ran to him.

"She's alive," Zhane replied slowly. "But…"

"But what?" Andros asked impatiently.

"She's in a coma," Zhane said softly. "We don't know when she'll wake up and we need to get her to a doctor as soon as we can… The closest hospital is about an hour away from where we are now. We're already on the way and I want you to get checked out too."

"A coma," Andros said, turning back to look at her with a sigh. "Why would she do that?"

"If she hadn't, you wouldn't be here now," Zhane said. "And I won't get started on your stupidity… not yet anyway."

Andros lowered his eyes. "I didn't mean for anyone –"

"I know," Zhane said, cutting him off. "Just get some rest and I'll check on you in a little while."

Zhane walked out of the infirmary, leaving Andros staring silently at Ashley with tears beginning to sting his eyes.

She was hurt badly and it was his fault for being so reckless, for being so impatient, for being so…

"So stupid," Andros finished aloud, his voice at a whisper and wavering as tears streamed from his eyes. "Ashley, I'm sorry… I'm so sorry."

Ashley lay there in silence, unable to see his tears or hear his words, which only seemed to upset Andros further. She could not respond to him at all and it was all his fault. As he continued to think about it, he grew angrier, scrubbing away his tears with his arm and burying his face in his face in his hands as he stifled a sob.

_It won't be in vain, Ashley_, Andros thought, clenching his fists in anger. _I'll avenge you, I swear._


	12. Chapter 12

Ch 12

_He was running. _

_As soon as he had closed his eyes, he had found himself running from something. And he could not stop._

_No, stopping meant getting caught. What was chasing him, he did not know. All he had was the familiar sense of panic and fear that welled up inside him and the instinct to run away._

_Maybe he was running from the darkness, he wondered as he caught sight of the end of the long corridor of the Megaship that he thought would never end. He glanced over his shoulder, watching the dark shadows behind him begin to catch up with him. It did not seem like the shadow of a person though and he did not hear any footsteps. But he kept running._

_After what had seemed like forever, he reached the end of the corridor, hurrying into the closest room to the dead end. The door whooshed open and Andros faced another door, pressing a sequence on the keypad next to it to open it. But as soon as it opened, he faced another door._

_Around sixteen doors later, Andros rushed into the dark room that lay ahead and closed the door behind him, making sure to lock it. He looked around the room, finding no sign of light, which meant no DECA and maybe even that something was wrong with the ship. The thing that was chasing him had probably done something to the ship. The room was empty except for two chairs and Andros noticed that he was not alone when he heard one of the chairs squeak across the bare floor of the room._

"_Ashley?" he asked, squinting in the darkness as he made out a figure standing up from the chair and walking over to him._

_It was Ashley but she stood shaking her head at him as she got closer._

"_Ashley," Andros began with a sigh. "There's something on the ship."_

"_I saw it," she said with a nod. "Did you see it?"_

"_No," he answered. "What happened to everyone?"_

"_They went to fight that thing," Ashley said with a shrug. "I couldn't fight."_

"_Why not?" Andros asked. "You seem okay to me."_

_Ashley shook her head again. "You can't fight either," she said. "We're the ones responsible for bringing it here. That's why they told us that we couldn't fight it. That's why we're here now."_

"_Bringing what here?" Andros asked. "What is it? Is it Darkonda or one of those monsters?"_

"_Why would you run from them?" Ashley asked. "You weren't scared of them before."_

"_I'm not scared of them now," Andros said firmly. "But I want to know what we're dealing with."_

"_Why?" Ashley asked. "Like I told you, we can't fight. The others won't allow it. You ran because you knew you couldn't fight."_

"_They can't win without us," Andros said. "If it's Darkonda, Tsukon, and Mirit, they'll be destroyed. We have to help them."_

"_It's not any of the monsters," Ashley said. "It's you."_

"_What do you mean 'it's me'?" he asked. _

_Before she could answer, there was a loud banging at the door as if someone was ramming their body into it. Ashley and Andros backed away from the door, knowing that there was no other way out of there. The door gave way a little with each bang, bending outward as whatever was after them forced its way into the room. With one last slam, the door was broken down and the shadow that had been behind Andros before was coming toward him again._

_Andros stood his ground, standing in front of Ashley as she peeked over his shoulder and watching the shadow grow on the floor as it came closer._

"_Face me," it said in an angry voice that Andros knew all too well._

"_I'm not afraid of you," Andros said as the Red Astroranger walked into the room and stared him down. "You can't hurt me."_

"_No, but I can hurt her," the Red Ranger said, lifting his Spiral Saber over his head and bringing it down on both of them._

***

Andros awoke with a start, nearly falling off the examination table where he had slept on and off most of the day. When he was certain that he would not fall, he looked over to where Ashley continued to sleep, thinking for just a moment that he might have seen her fingers move a little.

He turned his head from her again, knowing his history of seeing what he wanted to see. It would only be a matter of time before his sanity was brought into question if he kept seeing things like that, especially if he made the mistake of telling the others. But still surprisingly, he could look at her and not see Arcadia.

He sat up and sighed. It had to be night now and the others would be sleeping. No one had checked on him or Ashley as far as he knew and he suddenly felt very lonely. They must have blamed him for what had happened to Ashley. Even now, they might be on the bridge trying to decide what they should do to him.

Andros shook his head to himself. They had probably checked on Ashley at least. She had been hurt too badly for them not to. Even if they blamed him, they wouldn't neglect him completely. The others probably just wanted to give him a chance to rest.

"DECA, what are the course settings?" he asked, not bothering to find one of her cameras in the room.

"Course is still set for coordinates 12B-000.9C for the planet Gibareon," DECA explained. "Would you like the sector coordinates as well?"

"No," Andros said. "Why aren't we at the hospital? Zhane said it was an hour from Onyx."

"A physician from a medical facility on Gibareon examined Ashley eight hours ago," DECA said. "You were still asleep when he examined you as well."

"What did he say about Ashley?" he asked, looking back at Ashley sadly. "Is she going to be okay?"

DECA was silent, but when Andros looked up at her camera, its bright red light was on. She had heard his question, but she was keeping something from him.

"DECA, what did the doctor say?" Andros asked firmly.

"He was unclear about her prognosis," DECA replied after a moment.

Andros let out a long breath. This was going to be like pulling teeth. "Did he say anything about her waking up?"

"Yes," DECA answered.

Andros waited for her to elaborate, but she did not continue and he sighed again. "Did the doctor say that she would wake up?"

DECA was silent again.

"Fine," Andros said, rolling his eyes and deciding to change the subject. "Are the others asleep yet?"

"Yes," DECA answered. "Shall I wake them?"

"No," he replied, standing from the table and slipping on his shirt, wincing in pain as he did. He was far from healed. "DECA, don't tell the others where I've gone."

"Where are you going?" DECA asked. "You have not yet healed."

"I'll be fine, DECA," he said. "If I'm not back by the time the others wake up, just tell them… tell them I'm okay. But I should be back by then."

Andros walked out of the infirmary door, peeking around corners as he made his way down the hallway, his body aching with every step. His eyes watered as his knee popped and he limped the rest of the way to the Megalift, the pain being almost more than he could bear. If he could just make it to his bedroom, he would be able to fix things. But he would have to make it…

Limping and stifling his groans of pain as he passed the others' bedrooms, it took much longer than usual for Andros to get to his room. But he had made it nonetheless. He walked to his bed, reaching underneath his mattress and pulling out a small blue bottle from it before turning it quickly to his lips while he still had the strength in his arms to do so.

"You are not authorized to possess –" DECA began as Andros pushed the bottle back under his mattress.

"I know, DECA," Andros said sharply, interrupting her. "But you also know that I'd never use it unless I had a good reason… I messed up on Onyx and it got Ashley hurt, don't you understand that? I can't make her wake up, but I know one way that I can fix this."

Without another word from DECA, Andros walked out of his room, the growing strength in his body making it easier to do so. He eventually made his way to the workbay and walked up to the jumptubes, taking one last glance behind him to one of DECA's cameras. He wouldn't be able to go as long as he felt guilt.

"DECA, please do this for me," he said softly to her. "I can fix this… just give me two hours. If I'm not back by then…"

He paused, finally shaking his head at his words. "I'll be back before they wake up," he said, morphing before jumping into the tube.

***

That was it. He was going to have to apologize.

Zhane took his time getting to the infirmary, not sure that he _should_ apologize. He had called out Andros on his rash decision to confront those monsters on Onyx. He had called him stupid when he knew that Andros was hurting and already blaming himself for what had happened to Ashley. He wanted to apologize, but he still could not be sure that Andros deserved an apology at all.

But he had to.

Sooner than he had planned, Zhane was at the infirmary's door and he walked inside with a sigh. Cassie looked up from her place by Ashley's side and smiled at Zhane.

"Couldn't stay away?" Zhane asked her, returning her smile.

"Couldn't sleep," Cassie said with a shrug. "Every time I closed my eyes, I'd see it happening again… I didn't even move when it happened. I just stood there and watched Ashley throw herself in front of that blast."

"You wouldn't have been able to stop her," Zhane said gently, walking over to her. "If you had done anything more, _you_ might have been lying in here. And – where's Andros?"

They both looked over at the empty examination table that Andros had slept in.

"He wasn't in here when I came in," Cassie answered. "I just thought that he had gone to his room in the middle of the night."

"Maybe," Zhane said, though his expression was one of disbelief. He walked to a wall panel behind him and held down a button. "Tommy, is Andros with you on the Simudeck?"

"No," Tommy's voice answered back. "I haven't seen him at all today."

"Thanks," Zhane replied, releasing the button. He looked up to DECA's camera in the corner of the room. "DECA, is Andros in his room?"

"No, he is not," she answered.

Zhane thought to himself a moment, trying to think of a question that DECA would not be able to avoid answering simply.

"DECA, is Andros on the Astro Megaship right now?" he asked.

DECA responded with silence and Zhane met Cassie's eyes.

"He left the ship," Cassie said. "Where would he go in his condition?"

"DECA," Zhane tried again. "Did Andros leave for Onyx?"

Again, there was no answer from DECA and Zhane looked up at her steady red light sadly. "Please, DECA," he said softly. "He's already hurt… and he could die today, DECA. He could die if he's out doing something dangerous… As much as I know you want to be loyal to him, I know that you want just as much for him to stay alive."

"He had hoped to return before you woke," DECA said after a moment.

"Do you know where he went?" Zhane asked.

"He did not say," DECA replied. "But I believe that his intention was to return to Onyx."

"He's going after those monsters," Zhane said to himself, shaking his head. "DECA, set a course for Onyx."

"You don't really think he'd try to fight, do you?" Cassie asked. "I mean, he was hurt pretty bad."

Zhane took a step toward her, stopping when his foot came down on something that crunched softly under him. He moved his foot back and looked down, bending over to pick up the white envelope with Andros' name on the front.

"He didn't just go there to fight," Zhane said softly, looking inside the envelope briefly to make sure that this was the same envelope that Andros would have never parted without. "If he didn't take this with him, he might have thought that he wouldn't come back. He knows that he can't win with his injuries… He went there to die."

***

"Did you miss us, Red Ranger?" Darkonda asked with a smile as he sensed a familiar presence behind him. He turned to face the human that had been staring him down for some time now, getting Tsukon and Mirit's attention as he did so.

It was definitely the Red Ranger all right and he looked angry. He might have also been insane, coming to Onyx and standing in the middle of a room of monsters without disguise or even being morphed.

"It's already been too long," Andros answered, walking closer to the three monsters. "We never did get around to saying goodbye to each other."

"We did," Tsukon said as he and Mirit began closing in on the ranger. "While you were lying just outside this door, I said goodbye to you just before hitting you with another blast. How sad that you've forgotten already. But then, what could we really expect from such a weakling that loses consciousness after a couple of blasts?"

"Well, I plan to stay conscious this time," Andros said. "I only hope that you'll be conscious long enough for me to hear you scream before I destroy you."

"You mean, like the Yellow Ranger?" Mirit asked him with a laugh.

Andros frowned and narrowed his eyes.

"You have a lot of guts coming here without morphing," Darkonda said, pulling out his sword. "I won't even need this to take care of you."

But Darkonda struck at Andros suddenly with his weapon, somehow missing the ranger completely even though he had not seen the human move at all. Darkonda swiped at him again, this time seeing Andros dodge the sword… but just barely.

"What's the matter, Darkonda?" Andros asked as the monster growled. "Were you expecting things to be over a little quicker than this?"

"Everything will be over soon enough," Tsukon said, his eyes glowing as he shot a barrage of energy spheres from them. But just like before, the Red Ranger hardly seemed to move at all, somehow sending the energy back at Tsukon.

As the monster stumbled back from him, Andros turned to Mirit. "I suppose it's your turn now," he sighed.

"No, now it's time for us to attack you together," Mirit answered as he, Darkonda, and Tsukon all bared swords at the smirking Red Ranger.

"Spiral Saber," Andros called out, immediately able to defend himself from all three swords at once as his weapon appeared in his hand.

Without much effort, Andros fended off the monsters with his Spiral Saber, finally pushing Darkonda away with a kick to get out of the corner they had boxed him into. He avoided their blasts as they came one after the other, flipping and jumping away from them.

Darkonda continued to send powerful blasts at the human that seemed to be standing still through most of their fight. It was almost as if he was popping in and out of dimensions to avoid their attacks. But that would be impossible, Darkonda thought to himself as he swung his sword again. He could always see the Red Ranger move a little whenever he dodged an attack, but still it was just barely noticeable. He was moving, Darkonda soon determined as they fought. But he was moving faster than before, much faster than any human could ever move.

Andros finally stopped as he jumped several feet above their heads and looked down at them, his smirk gone now. He was playing with them, he realized. And he had not come for such games. He was there for one purpose only –repaying them for what they had done to Ashley.

He glanced down at his Battlizer, pressing the number two and waiting until he felt the power shift from his body to his arm before switching the Spiral Saber to that hand and concentrating. As the Spiral Saber's drill began to turn furiously and red energy began to glow and crackle around it, Andros jumped back down toward the monsters and slashed at them with his saber, knocking them all back. But it was only Mirit that took most of the hit and he thrashed around briefly as his own energy left his body and he fell to the ground, exploding on impact.

Andros barely glanced back at him, focused now on the two monsters that glared back at him angrily. But they were worried now, Andros could see. They even backed up some when he walked toward them. Mirit was the easy one, but these two would be a lot tougher to beat. And if they were getting scared, then Andros was sure that he must have had the advantage.

Darkonda jumped up in the air, releasing a long tentacle from his arm and striking Tsukon's back with it, transforming into a ball of light and striking Tsukon again as he appeared to enter his body. Tsukon groaned in pain, attempting to fight against Darkonda's control for his body, but it seemed as though Darkonda won in the end, transforming Tsukon's body into a hybrid with his own.

"Tsukonda," Andros said to himself, not really having prepared for such a move on Darkonda's part. He had just barely remembered Tsukonda, the monster that had destroyed the Pink Astroranger just when the rangers had seemed to get the upper hand. This was the beast that had destroyed their zords and weapons with one blast.

But Andros had more power now and he knew that it would not last as long as Tsukonda's, so the monster had to be destroyed before that happened.

"Let's rocket!" Andros shouted, feeling the ground under him shake a little as he morphed.

Tsukonda laughed as the Red Ranger attached his Spiral Saber with his Astroblaster and fired without warning at him. But Tsukonda was twice as fast, sending the ranger's own blast back, though missing him completely.

As Andros had assumed, taking on Tsukonda was much more difficult than fighting Tsukon and Darkonda separately and neither he nor Tsukonda were making any headway in the department of hurting one another. Each time one would strike, the other would dodge or block it.

After almost an hour, Andros was exhausted, but holding up fairly well, only having just started to feel the effects of the strength potion he had consumed earlier. He was getting shaky, but he was still able to support his own weight without feeling any pain from his injuries. All he could feel was the coldness of the sweat that poured out of him as he fought to win.

He only had one move left in him and if it did not work, chances are that he would never be able to bring Tsukonda down by himself. But it was worth a try.

Andros looked down at his Battlizer, knowing that he was taking a chance every time he pushed a button, especially the button labeled with the number three. Pressing it usually transformed him into the Red Battlized Ranger, but he had already taken a strength potion. There was no telling what that power would do to him when it combined with his Battlizer power. But if he could just concentrate…

He pressed the button and focused on the power that he felt coursing through him, focusing on gathering the energy rather than using it to transform. He began to feel pain after a moment, ignoring it as he opened his eyes to a waiting Tsukonda. Finally, Andros released all of the energy within him, knowing that this was his last shot at destroying the monsters that had ruined his life and the lives of his friends. This was it.

His body glowed red with power as all of the energy left his body in a single large sphere that struck Tsukonda's chest and sent him falling to the ground with a yell. Andros watched Tsukonda separate into Darkonda and Tsukon again. They were both visibly weakened, but still alive and Andros fell to his knees as his legs gave out and he struggled to catch his breath.

"Well, it seems like you're finished, Red Ranger," Darkonda said as he and Tsukon got to their feet and Andros did not.

"Maybe not," the Silver Ranger said, striking at both monsters with his Silver Silverizer before running over to check on Andros.

"Why are you here?" Andros asked somewhat angrily, barely able to lift his head to look at Zhane. "This isn't your fight."

"Well, I was around for the first couple of fights with these guys," Zhane pointed out, helping Andros to his feet. "And these are the same monsters that hurt my friends. This is my fight too."

"This fight belongs to all of us," Tommy said as he, the other Veo Tech Rangers, and the Astrorangers stood in front of Andros and Zhane. "Let's end this, guys."

"Right," the rangers chimed in, running after the monsters with their weapons ready.

"You'd be wise to listen to your friend," Tsukon said as the rangers came at him. "This doesn't involve you."

"You hurt our friends and you involve all of us," T.J. said, aiming his Astro Axe in Booster Mode at Tsukon. He and the other Astrorangers fired, causing the monster enough damage to keep him on the ground for a while. But he still was not out yet.

"You stay back," Zhane said to Andros as he ran to help the others. "I'll be back."

As Zhane reached his friends, Tsukon laughed. "What's wrong, rangers?" he asked. "Can't you win this fight by yourselves?"

"Didn't you know, Tsukon?" Zhane started, holding out his Silver Silverizer in Blaster Mode. "A ranger never fights alone."

The Astrorangers fired on Tsukon all at once with Zhane finishing things off with his Silverizer in Blade Mode. Tsukon barely had time to react, exploding violently as he hit the ground.

Darkonda glanced over at the fallen Tsukon, looking back to the Veo Tech Rangers and laughing. "You can't possibly believe that you'll win," he said. "Tsukon and I forced you into retreat last time. What's different now?"

"The difference is that you're two monsters down," Kim replied, firing her blaster with the others.

Darkonda dodged the attack easily and released a stream of lightning energy from his hand, using it to move several large pieces of the rubble around him. The barrage of material fell onto the Veo Tech Rangers, most of it too large for them to have avoided. But just as quickly as it fell onto them, it was lifted off of them.

Andros craned his neck to see the Veo Tech Rangers, glad that they had not been hurt and noticing suddenly that Tommy no longer looked the same as he rose from off the ground. In fact, even Tommy took time to look down at himself, unable to explain exactly what had happened. But he was glad that it had happened and he clenched his fists as he basked in the difference in power as the Red Turbo Ranger.

"How'd you do that?" Rocky asked him.

"I'm not sure," Tommy said. "I just kind of… wished it."

"Then, let's try it, guys," Adam said, rubbing his hands together. "Shift into turbo!"

As the rangers held out their hands, the Turbo morphers suddenly appeared along with the Turbo keys and the rangers morphed again, breaking free of the Veo suits which broke away from their bodies to reveal the Turbo Ranger suits in their places.

"Cool," Kim said, holding up an Autoblaster and firing at Darkonda and Tsukon. "And check it out." She stood next to Aisha, demonstrating her slight increase in height.

"Get back in the game, Kim," Tommy said, though he was smiling under his helmet. "Let's show this monster how cool our new trick really is."

The rangers ran at Darkonda again, holding their much-missed Turbo Swords and striking Darkonda several times. But the monster fought back furiously, nearly knocking the rangers down with an attack of his own. But they were quick enough to escape being struck down by him and they stood back waiting for him to attack first. When Darkonda did nothing except growl at them, the rangers put away their Turbo Swords.

"Turbo Lightning Sword," Tommy called out, holding a new weapon firmly in his hand.

"Turbo Hand Blasters," Rocky called.

"Turbo Wind Fire," Kim called.

"Turbo Star Chargers," Aisha called.

"Turbo Thunder Cannon," Adam called out.

"Turbo Robotic Arsenal Mobilizer, fire!" Tommy yelled as they combined their weapons and aimed for Darkonda.

The weapon fired, leaving Darkonda groaning in agony as he fell to the ground and exploded.

"Great job, guys," Tommy said, demorphing with the others and huddling around Andros, who had fallen to his knees again and had demorphed.

His entire front was covered with blood, but he was awake and conscious with a blue liquid slowly coming out of every pore on his body, causing him pain as it burned his skin inside and out.

"What's happening to him?" Carlos asked.

"It's a reaction to something," Zhane said with a sigh, trying not to show panic on his face. "DECA, teleport ten to the ship."


	13. Chapter 13

Ch 13

His skin was on fire.

It felt like his skin was on fire and, no matter how much Andros tried to hold back, he could not help but cry out in pain. And there seemed to be no end in sight to the terrible torture. What was worse was that there was no help for it. There was nothing that could extinguish the pain for very long and he had exceeded the limit for pain medication hours ago. All that would help was the machine that pumped cool saline solution into his body through an I.V. but even that seemed to be failing him now.

Andros squeezed his eyes shut as the pain increased, crying out again as it intensified briefly. Finally, the pain subsided and he opened his eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that day since it appeared that the pain did not like it when he slept for longer than a few minutes at a time.

He lay still as he allowed himself to relax a little, finding it to be especially difficult when he attempted to stretch out his arms. But they were pinned down by his sides and he looked down at himself, finding the straps of the infirmary bed buckled around him. They were fairly tight on his body and Andros wriggled a little to loosen them, hoping that if he did enough of that, the straps might loosen enough for him to at least move his arms a little.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he heard Cassie's voice warn from his left and he turned to her. She lowered her eyes as he looked at her and let out a sigh before continuing. "Zhane left a while ago to take care of a few things, but he said that if you were awake when he got back here, he'd hurt you if those straps were loose."

"Zhane knows best, I suppose," Andros said sarcastically, staring up at the ceiling. "So why am I in restraints?"

"Why do you think?" Cassie replied coldly enough to make Andros turn back to her.

"You're mad at me," he concluded softly. "Is _everyone_ angry?"

"Of course we're angry," Cassie said. "You thought that things would be okay with us just because we won the fight?"

"No," he answered after a moment. "I guess not… So you all blame me for what happened to Ashley?"

"Shouldn't we?" Cassie asked. "If you hadn't been so impatient, then Ashley might be okay right now."

"I know," he said quietly. "I'm sor –"

"Don't apologize to me," Cassie interrupted, anger seeping into her voice. "I just spent the better part of my day sitting here with Ashley, washing her face, brushing her hair, and talking to her. And the whole time, I kept thinking that I might never have a conversation with her again or hear her laugh or make a stupid joke that'd only be funny to us. She might never…"

She stopped when her voice broke and she looked away from him again, regaining her usually calm demeanor.

"If you hate me so much, why are you here with me now?" Andros asked with a sigh.

"Zhane was adjusting your I.V. while I was here sitting with Ashley," she replied. "He went to the bridge to make some arrangements for Ashley to go to a hospital on Earth and he told me to stay here and keep an eye on you. Believe me, I wouldn't be here otherwise."

"Wait," Andros said. "Why are we sending Ashley to a hospital? A doctor already saw her and determined that they couldn't do much better than we could for her."

"They can keep her safe," Cassie said. "The Megaship's been attacked by Astronema before and we almost crash-landed when she did. If it happens again, Ashley could get hurt or something in this room helping her could malfunction that we won't be able to fix right away. Besides, we'd never be able to get anything done as long as she was here. We'd just worry about her all day."

"And when was this decision made?" Andros asked bitterly. "When did everyone decide that my opinion as the leader of this team didn't matter anymore?"

"Since we decided that you no longer have that title," Cassie replied, locking eyes with him. "You don't lead us anymore… Zhane does."

"Because of what happened to Ashley?" Andros asked incredulously. "It was an accident, which we as humans make all the time. Why do I lose my position as leader for that?"

"Well first, your decision to fight that tavern full of monsters wasn't an accident," Cassie said. "If you had just left them alone, Ashley would never have gotten hurt like she did. But that isn't why we voted you out as leader."

"You put it to a vote?" Andros asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Don't worry, Zhane fought for you," she said, rolling her eyes. "But in the end, we asked ourselves who we trusted more –you or him? Anyway, Zhane's been leading us more than you have. He showed us how to run system check functions, gave us our uniforms and rooms, and he gave us our morphers. He showed us how to use the ship's controls so that when you barked orders at us during Astronema's attack, we were ready. Zhane's done a lot of things that you as our leader should have done and didn't."

Andros stared back up at the ceiling and sighed heavily, trying to stay calm. But the rangers were turning on him. He was not sure how much calmer he could be.

"So, you don't trust me?" he asked. "Why not?"

"We can start with the fact that you never really trusted us," she started. "You still don't… And we lost our trust for you when you decided to go off on your own and fight three monsters without telling us where you were."

"If I'd told you guys, you'd have just tried to stop me," Andros pointed out in frustration.

"Probably," Cassie agreed. "But you'll never know now… We also don't trust that you won't use the Veo Prism for your own agenda."

"What agenda?" Andros asked. "What do you think that I'm going to do with the Veo Prism?"

"We don't know," Cassie admitted, trying to analyze the look on his face as she spoke. "We just know that we all have this feeling that if we ever found all the shards, you'd try to use the Veo Prism."

Andros said nothing in response, not sure that he could feign enough anger to counter her accusations. After all, she was right. He wanted to use the Veo Prism and right now he needed it. If it could change things, then maybe it could change what had happened to Ashley and she would wake up.

Cassie sighed. "You know what really makes me mad?" she asked softly, her voice wavering a little. "You'll be in here for the next few days recovering while we have to figure out what we're going to say to Ashley's parents."

"It was an accident, Cassie!"

"You can stop yelling at her right about now," Zhane said, walking into the infirmary with a stack of towels in his hands. Cassie walked out of the room, shaking her head as she passed by Zhane. "I'd stay out of her way for a while if I were you."

"It sounds like I should stay out of _everyone's_ way for a while… sir," Andros said, not bothering to look Zhane in the eye.

Zhane frowned. "Cassie mentioned that to you, huh?" he asked. "It wasn't exactly my idea, but maybe it was a good one."

"Then Cassie lied when she said that you fought for me?"

"No," Zhane answered, sitting down by Andros. "I fought for you… until I realized that even I didn't trust you anymore."

"I make a couple of mistakes and everyone turns on me," Andros thought aloud. "But I'm supposed to be okay with this."

"This has been a long time coming, Andros," Zhane replied. "You know it as well as I do. You can't lead a team that you hate."

"I don't h –"

"Or pretend to hate," Zhane corrected himself. "Either way, you've been treating them like unwelcome guests since they got here –all of the rangers. And they didn't decide to follow me after what happened to Ashley. When you left to fight on your own, they just… they'd had enough."

"Yeah, well… you're supposed to lead anyway, I guess," Andros said softly. "Whatever. You win."

"I _win_?" Zhane repeated. "Andros, how do I make you understand this? Nothing is changing… They aren't going to start calling me 'captain' or 'commander'. The only difference is that –"

"The difference is that they don't trust me," Andros said angrily. "And I'm sure that you weren't much help. But I don't want to talk about this anymore. If they'd rather follow you, that's fine. I don't care."

"Fine," Zhane said, folding his arms. "Let's talk about how stupid you are."

"I've already heard," Andros said.

"Not from me," Zhane said firmly. "You already know how dangerous it was to go to Onyx by yourself. You know that you were stupid, not only for going alone, but for going there injured with fresh stitches. Oh, and your wounds _did_ open again, meaning more work for me, of course. But the injury and the going alone wasn't enough to demonstrate your idiocy, so you then did the dumbest thing you've ever done."

Zhane reached into his pocket and pulled out a small blue bottle, setting it down on the instrument tray by Andros.

"You were in my room?" Andros asked angrily.

"I searched your room because you started oozing blue liquid from your body on Onyx," Zhane replied, rolling his eyes. "I needed to be sure of what you took… A strength potion. Do you know how dangerous it is, taking a strength potion and taking that much of one?"

"Here we go," Andros sighed heavily.

"Stop making me the bad guy, Andros," Zhane said, raising his voice a little. "You know as well as I do that strength potions aren't for humans. You know that most humans dumb enough to take them end up dead. Your stitches ripped open while you were fighting and if it hadn't worn off, you might have bled to death all because you didn't feel the pain."

"I know, Zhane," Andros said angrily. "But I went for Ashley! I went back to avenge her and our friends. Darkonda, Tsukon, and Mirit killed our friends –the only family we had. And I know that they were involved with the shards somehow. You saw one of those monsters with them turn into Wan! They should've been taken care of a long time ago."

"So that's your excuse?" Zhane asked. "Vengeance?"

"You saw what they did to _me_," Andros argued. "Ashley is in a _coma_! They killed four rangers! Why isn't vengeance _your_ excuse?"

"Andros," Zhane started, remaining calm in spite of his friend's hot temper. "We're Power Rangers. We're not in the business of vengeance."

"Justice, then," Andros said. "We fight for justice, don't we?"

"Yeah," Zhane answered carefully. "But what's justice? Think of it this way, Andros… We could destroy the entire planet of Onyx within days with enough firepower. Almost every monster that we fight finds sanctuary there at some point. If we wipe it out, we decrease our monster population, right? Would that be just?"

"That's not vengeance or justice, Zhane," Andros said. "That just makes sense."

"To you," Zhane replied. "But as long as you're acting on hurt feelings or any strong emotions, anything you do in the name of those feelings is vengeance. And that's not our department… Justice isn't going to a planet of monsters and starting trouble. And it definitely doesn't involve taking a dangerous and very illegal strength potion and fighting alone."

Andros rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Can you just let me out of these things?" he asked, glancing down at the restraints.

"No, actually," Zhane said. "The strength potion isn't out of your system yet and it'll be pretty painful when it starts. The rest of it is going to come out of your pores like before and I won't be able to control how much of the pain you feel. It shouldn't happen for another few hours or so."

"Then why am I in restraints now?" Andros asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Just in case," Zhane replied with a small smile.

"Wait a minute," Andros said, abandoning his anger for a moment. "You said that I'm not supposed to be feeling pain yet?"

"I increased your dosage before I left," Zhane said. "You shouldn't feel anything right now."

"Well, I don't _right_ now," he replied. "But before you came in, I was sleeping and then I felt all of it – the strength potion, my injuries from before, everything. Does that mean that it's starting already?"

Zhane thought a second before letting out a breath. "No," he answered, standing up and walking to the door. "It was probably just a problem with the I.V. or something. I'll be back to change it in a while."

"Okay," Andros said, staring down at his feet as he heard the door to the infirmary whoosh open. "Zhane?"

"Yeah?" Zhane replied.

"Please reconsider moving Ashley from here," he said softly. "I mean, she should be around her friends, shouldn't she? Don't you want her to stay here with us?"

"I'll think about it," Zhane said distractedly. "Earth is a three day journey from here. I'll let you know, okay?"

Zhane let the door close behind him before he quickened his pace to the Megalift, the wheels turning in his head as he walked silently to where he knew he would find Cassie. He silently cursed himself the whole way, knowing that being wrong would only ensure that Cassie would take her anger out on him. But he was almost absolutely sure about this. All that was left was how she would take the confrontation.

He finally approached the Simudeck's doorway, hearing some of the rangers training inside. When he entered the room, all he could see were swarms of Craterites facing off with Tommy, Cassie, and Kim. Zhane stood back and watched as the Craterites were dispatched of, his attention focused on Cassie more than the others. The usual calm that he was used to seeing was gone now, leaving only anger in its place. After a few minutes, Tommy flipped over the last Craterite and the simulation ended.

"All right, guys," Cassie began, glancing over at Zhane as he walked toward her. "Let's go again."

"Easy, Cassie," Tommy said, leaning his head against a wall as he opened a bottle of water. "It's break time."

"Yeah, I'm surprised you're not wiped," Kim added. "You fought harder than we did. You've _earned_ a break."

"Besides, I need to talk to you for a minute," Zhane said, stopping just in front of her.

"I'm not really in the mood to talk right now," Cassie said, avoiding his eyes.

"That's okay," Zhane said with a smile. "Knowing me, I'll probably do most of the talking anyway. And you told me that I could always talk to you."

Cassie glanced back at Tommy and Kim, who had already began edging toward the door. "You don't have to leave," Cassie said to them.

"No, I think we're done training for a while," Tommy said as Kim pulled him gently by the arm. "We'll be in the workbay if you need us."

"So what's going on?" Cassie asked after she was sure that she heard Tommy and Kim board the Megalift.

"I think you know," Zhane replied softly.

"Really don't," Cassie said, walking over to grab a bottle of water for herself.

"Okay, then," Zhane said with a nod. "Well, it's kind of about Andros."

Cassie rolled her eyes as she took a sip of water, but said nothing in response.

"He mentioned something about being in pain before I came in," Zhane said. "Is that true?"

"Yeah," Cassie replied. "The pain woke him up and he cried out a couple of times. But he was okay after a minute. Why?"

"It's just that I added something to his I.V. before I left," Zhane said. "And the dosage that I gave him should have left him without pain for the next few hours or so."

"So what?" Cassie shrugged, taking another sip of water. "You think he might have been faking or something? Trying to get some extra medication?"

"It's possible, I guess," Zhane said. "But Andros has never been much of a junkie."

"People change," Cassie replied softly.

"I know," Zhane said, walking up to her again. "I'm watching you change right before my eyes, Cassie."

Cassie lowered her water bottle and averted her gaze, but she swallowed hard and Zhane thought he saw her eyes flash with worry.

"Before I left the infirmary to find you, the I.V.'s infusion pump showed the flow rate steadily climbing," Zhane continued. "It was constant when I left you to watch him… which would mean that it was turned off sometime after I left that first time. Do you know anything about that?"

Cassie finally looked up at him, tears stinging her eyes in spite of her angry expression. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice wavering. "But she was my best friend, Zhane."

"And Andros is mine," he replied. "He messed up, Cassie. He knows what he did and he's sorry. He's going to punish himself way worse than any of us could."

"And how long do you think that'll be?" Cassie asked angrily, throwing down her empty water bottle. "Ashley's paying for his stupidity right now. We don't even know if she'll wake up again!"

"I know you're angry, Cassie," Zhane said gently. "And I know how hard it is to look at Ashley and not place blame with Andros. But she's not _dead_ and you don't get to administer punishments, especially not in the form of pain. That doesn't seem like you… Andros will pay for what he did later tonight. He's paying for it right now."

Zhane met her look of confusion with a guilty glance of his own. "The restraints may not be entirely necessary at this point," he said.

Cassie's expression softened. "So even _you_ want to punish him?" she asked.

"Punish, not hurt," Zhane said pointedly. "I want to punish him for almost getting himself killed today, not for what happened to Ashley."

"Why not?" Cassie asked.

"Because one was an accident," he said. "You should go easy on him. Besides, you'll know by morning how little you punished him by turning off his meds."

"What do you mean?" Cassie asked.

"The rest of that potion has to come out of his body," he explained. "So I'm on detox-duty tonight. And it _will_ be painful for him, more painful than what he felt when you turned off the I.V. earlier. If you can endure the night listening to his pain, look me in the eye tomorrow, and tell me that you still want him to hurt for what happened to Ashley, then I'll let you hurt him."

"No, you won't," Cassie said, shaking her head with a small smile.

"No, I won't," Zhane said, returning her smile.

"It's okay, Zhane," Cassie replied with a sigh. "I get it… It's just –I'm going to miss her."

"We all will," he assured her. "Even him… and maybe, _especially_ him. In the meantime, we have a few days before we're in Earth's orbit. Sit with her, talk to her… Talk to _me_ if you need to. I'm a pretty good listener too."

He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him, suddenly losing herself in his gray eyes. Before she knew it, she was moving her face closer to his and beginning to close her eyes.

Zhane instinctively found himself drifting to her, lifting his hand from her shoulder to move a strand of her beautiful black hair out of her eyes. But he stopped his hand before making any further contact with her and he found that he had stopped moving toward her as well.

"I should go check on Andros," Zhane said softly, making Cassie open her eyes again.

"You don't have to," she said, her inviting eyes almost pleading with him.

"I think I should," he said, taking a step back from her.

"Why?" she asked, unable to fully hide her disappointment.

"Because I know what'll happen if I move that hair away from your face," he said with a sigh. "And I don't want things to start out that way –not with you upset and me taking advantage."

"I'm not upset," Cassie said, shaking her head as she stepped closer to him. She took his hand, knowing that he would not be so quick to leave with her holding onto him. "And you wouldn't be taking advantage of me. So why are you really running away from me?"

Zhane smiled a little, looking into her eyes again and moving the strand of hair gently from her face as he glanced down at her lips. He rested his hand lightly on the side of her face and tenderly kissed her lips, unable to pull himself back from her as her warm body pressed against his and she deepened the kiss when her hand drifted to the back of his neck. He heard Cassie make a small moan as their kiss continued and he knew right then that he was in danger of not being able to stop. But he did not want to stop. And neither did she.

But he concentrated and ripped himself away from her as gently as he could, letting his fingers fall away from hers.

"I should go to the infirmary now," Zhane said, his eyes shifting from her smiling brown eyes to her lips.

Cassie nodded as she bit down on her bottom lip, sure that she could still taste him on it. She smiled a little as he licked his own lips briefly, knowing that he must have tasted her too. He backed toward the doorway, finally smiling back at her before he turned to it and walked out of the Simudeck with a contented sigh.

Zhane took his time walking down the hallway, knowing how obvious his grin would be to anyone who might see it. He made it to the Megalift doors before glancing back toward the Simudeck, nearly making his way back down the corridor. But the doors opened and he walked inside, no longer sure that his feet were touching the ground and less sure that he had pressed the button for Megadeck Two. He was sure of one thing though.

He really wanted to kiss her again.


	14. Chapter 14

Ch 14

Tommy smiled as he walked into the infirmary, silently walking up behind Kimberly and wrapping his arms around her. She leaned her head against his chest as he kissed her head and smiled back.

"I thought I might find you in here," Tommy said softly.

"Couldn't sleep," Kim replied with a shrug.

"You weren't the only one," Tommy said, glancing over at Andros, who lay still on the infirmary bed. "Is he finally asleep?"

"I think so," Kim said, turning her head to look at him. "He hasn't moved since I got here. But the machine seems to be beeping steadily enough, so I know he's alive."

Tommy let out a sigh. "I thought he _might_ be dead after all that screaming he did last night," he said with a shudder. "That was pretty brutal."

"Yeah," Kim answered with a small yawn. "Zhane was just leaving when I came in… Scarily enough, this is supposed to be a soundproof room. I'm just glad that Zhane warned us ahead of time so that we could get a little sleep. But it didn't look like _he_ got any sleep."

Tommy finally let Kim go, pulling up a stool from across the room and sitting beside her as she stared helplessly at Ashley and sighed. Tommy reached for her hand and gently squeezed it, unable to think of any comforting words at the moment that he had not already said to her one hundred times since yesterday but knowing that his touch might be enough of a comfort for now.

"Has there been any change?" he asked.

"Not so much," Kim answered, shaking her head sadly.

"How long have you been sitting in here?"

"At least an hour," she answered. "I thought that I should talk to her a little, keep her company before we leave her on Earth… which I kind of wish we weren't doing."

"She'll be safer there," Tommy said gently.

"I know, but it feels like we're giving up on her," she said. "We won't be able to see her or visit her –nothing. It just feels wrong to leave her behind."

"She'll be taken care of," he replied. "That's something that we really can't do for her. We can't be with her every minute like her parents can. Her best bet at getting better is for her to be in a hospital."

Kim sighed heavily, squeezing his hand back to show his appreciation. "Like I said… I know that."

"You know, I spent all night thinking," Tommy said, lowering his head a little. "I'd like to think that I've matured over time. But I really don't know what I'd have done if this had happened to me. I can't imagine losing members of my team, my friends, and family all at once."

"We nearly lost _you_ once, so I remember the feeling well," Kim said, turning to him.

"I lost my powers, but I wasn't hurt like this," Tommy pointed out. "I keep wondering what I'd do if you were the one lying here. But I already know where I'd be… I'd be where Andros is now."

"I kind of hope not," Kim said, leaning against his shoulder. "He put his life at risk, convincing himself that he was doing what he did for Ashley. But he put us in danger too… I'm just glad our powers held up okay."

"So, you don't think that you'd have ended up lying beside me in the hospital if the tables were turned?" Tommy asked.

"I guess I don't know for sure," Kim said. "But it's different for us. We love each other… "

"Then, you don't think that Andros likes her?" Tommy asked.

"According to Ashley, he barely made eye contact," Kim explained. "And when he did, she said that he never gave her much of a reason to think that he might like her, let alone love her. But after we got the fake shards, she told me that she could never be with him. She never would explain it to me. But I know that she _did_ kind of like him."

"And I'll bet that he liked her back," Tommy said. "And if he doesn't, he should. She might have saved his life."

"Yeah, I think he might," Kim said. "Andros is just a hair-puller."

"A hair-puller?"

"You know, he's like a little kid trying to get the new girl's attention by pulling her hair and getting her to chase him around," Kim said. "And it usually works for a while until the girl realizes that the boy doesn't want to play nice… It just gets old."

"You think he'll ever play nice?" Tommy asked, sighing softly.

"We can only hope," Kim replied with a smile. "But it might take some time. Didn't you say something about him having a lot of anger?"

"The day that we sparred," Tommy confirmed with a nod. "I guess I wasn't so surprised that he was angry. Even now, I'm wearing an Astroranger uniform, something that probably belonged to one of his friends."

"That's still no excuse to try to hurt you," she said. "And if he does it again, he'll have to answer to me."

Tommy smiled. "He'll be in real trouble then, won't he?" he asked her.

"Count on it," she said, standing from her seat and taking one last look at Ashley before turning back to Tommy. "Come on, let's go."

"We just got here," Tommy said. "Are you sure you don't want to stay for a while longer?"

"I think that I've been in here feeling bad for long enough," she replied, gently pulling on his arm to get him on his feet. "So it's time for a pick-me-up. I'm thinking breakfast… Come on, we can get the others too."

Tommy smiled again and followed Kim from the room, leaving Ashley and Andros alone in the infirmary. As soon as their footsteps faded down the corridor, Andros opened his eyes and sat up, looking for any other visitors before lying back down and letting out a long breath. It had not been easy lying there silently as Tommy and Kim discussed him. He almost wished that he _had_ been sleeping.

Andros turned his head to Ashley, watching her sleep beside him. Did he _really_ like Ashley? If he did then, unfortunately for him, Kim's explanation would have made sense. He had never thought about it, but he had been fairly abrupt with Arcadia the first time he had met her too. Maybe he was a hair-puller after all.

But if he liked her, he had never given her a reason to like him back. He could not think of a single thing that he had done for her or with her in the time that she and the others had been on the Megaship that might have made her like him. Not a wink, a lingering smile, an accidental brush of their hands while passing one another… not a single thing.

He thought a moment, finally frowning after a while.

He had stared at her a lot, he remembered suddenly. Maybe she had noticed it. That would explain why she might think he liked her. But that was not why he had been staring at her at all. It was because she looked so much like Arcadia. With all those pictures in her bedroom, she must have noticed the resemblance. Maybe that was why she had been so angry with him before Onyx… Maybe she did not like knowing that he was comparing her to Arcadia when he looked at her.

Except…

He had seen the other Astrorangers on Onyx as they lost the first battle with Darkonda, Tsukon, and Mirit and had recognized them as his fallen comrades… except for Ashley. Even in the confusion of the battle, she was still Ashley. She was still the girl that smelled of the sweet things that he did not recognize from any other planet he had been on. After comparing her –no, _seeing_ her as Arcadia for so long, she is the only one that he did not see as one of the former Astrorangers. But that did not necessarily mean that he liked her.

Andros continued to stare at her, talking himself out of what he finally turned over on his back and admitted quietly to her.

"I guess I _do_ like you," he said softly, staring up at the ceiling and not able to look at her even knowing that she would not be looking back. "But it doesn't matter now. You stopped liking me a long time ago and… I don't blame you. But if you wake up, I'll… I'll be better. I'll _show_ you that I like you."

And that was the last thing that he remembered before he felt his eyelids grow heavy and he finally closed his eyes to sleep, more than able to drown out the sounds of incoming footsteps. As curious as he was to see who was coming, his body had already decided that sleep was more important now. But after what had felt like a few minutes, he soon opened his eyes, hearing a familiar sound coming from his left. He saw Zhane standing by the infirmary door, his back turned to Andros and being pulled closer to the person standing just outside the door. Andros craned his neck until he could see just over Zhane's shoulder as the mystery person stood back from him and smiled.

"So, I'll see you in a little while?" Andros heard Cassie ask as she sheepishly backed away from him, still smiling. "I mean, after you check on Andros..."

"Yeah," Zhane said. "I've got a few things that I have to take care of on the bridge, so I'll meet you there when I'm finished here."

"Then we'll have that talk you wanted?" she asked with an emphasis on the word 'talk' that made Andros wonder how much 'talking' they would actually be doing once they were alone.

"We'll definitely talk," Zhane said in a way that made Andros roll his eyes a little. There was silence suddenly and Andros looked to Zhane, finding him staring back at him now.

"How long have you been awake?" Zhane asked as Andros sighed and sat up.

"Long enough to see you kissing Cassie," Andros answered. "And planning 'talks', whatever that really means."

"It means talking," Zhane said, shaking his head at Andros. "I told her to meet me on the bridge. How did you get a deeper meaning from the word 'talk'?"

"You're really just talking?" he asked, looking into Zhane's eyes for the answer.

"That's all," Zhane answered. "_Maybe_ that'll be all… Why so curious about what _I'm_ doing all of a sudden?"

"I just want to know how you do it," Andros said with a shrug.

"Do what?"

"How you just move on from Camilla like that," Andros replied.

Zhane rolled his eyes. "Not this again," he sighed. "Andros, I already told you that I –"

"No," Andros interrupted, removing the initial conviction that had accompanied his last reply. "I really want to know… How are you able to move on like that so easily?"

"I told you before that one year felt like forever for me," Zhane said. "Moving on _isn't_ easy and I'd never tell you that it is… I didn't lose a baby, so maybe it's a little easier for me than you. Besides, you and I are two different people. I'm a people-person, so I need to be surrounded by people sometimes. I need to have friends and the interactions that come with that. And you choose to isolate yourself, being the complete opposite of a people-person, which cuts me off from what_ I_ need. And I love DECA to death but she isn't a person and I can't do more than talk to her."

"I understand that," Andros said, stopping Zhane from rambling on. "That's why you let those monsters on the ship… you thought they were humans and you needed more human interaction, right?"

Zhane frowned. "You mention moving on but then bring this stuff up again," he said. "You don't want to move on. You want to hang that over my head for the rest of my life. Well, I don't take responsibility for our friends' deaths anymore. Everyone agreed to take them onto the ship, even Arcadia. But I'm not going to keep letting you make me feel guilty for being a good person. I saw people in trouble and offered to help them. None of us had any way of knowing what they really were."

"I know," Andros said softly.

"Do you?" Zhane asked, folding his arms.

"I do," Andros replied sincerely. "I'm sorry. But you're right, we're different people. I guess I'll move on whenever I'm ready, right?"

"I think the reason that you can't move on is because you won't let go of Arcadia," Zhane explained. "She was your first love and you were on your way to your own happily ever after and I get that. I mean, I loved Camilla. But she's gone and I accept that. You don't want to accept that our friends and our girlfriends aren't coming back. And you can't move on with anyone, especially Ashley, until you let all that bad stuff go… and until you stop seeing Arcadia in Ashley."

Andros lifted his head and Zhane nodded.

"You think no one notices the way you look at her?" Zhane asked. "But I doubt that they see what I see. I see how you stare at Ashley, not because of how beautiful she is or because you like her. You're looking for something in her, the same something that you saw in Arcadia. You've been forcing yourself to see Arcadia whenever Ashley's around you. And I guess you also didn't think I noticed your recent sleeping patterns? The constant _desire_ to sleep? You even forced Arcadia into your dreams… That's why you were always oversleeping –your dreams were the closest thing to being able to feel her again. And you couldn't let that go either."

Andros looked away from him. "Okay, so I miss my girlfriend," he said. "So what? Why is it wrong for me to mourn her?"

"It's not," Zhane said firmly. "You think I'm completely over what I had with Camilla? Of course not. I watched that movie that we all made together every single day after she and the others died. But when I met the other rangers and started making friends, I stopped doing that and started to move on. I know that I can't bring her back. I've cried for her and I can't do that anymore. All Camilla ever wanted was for me to be happy and I'm sure Arcadia wanted you to be happy too."

"So you want me to forget?" Andros asked angrily. "You want me to forget Arcadia when Ashley is here parading Arcadia's looks everyday? How am I supposed to do that, Zhane? They look the same. Ashley wears that uniform or morphs and I can't stand it sometimes."

"Why?" Zhane asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What do you mean 'why'?" Andros asked. "How can I not think of Arcadia when I see Ashley morph?"

"Because Arcadia wasn't the Yellow Ranger," Zhane answered. "Camilla was, remember?"

"She was –" Andros began, stopping as Arcadia's words suddenly filled his mind. In his dreams, he faintly recalled her telling him that he was remembering things wrong. He had taken it to mean that the love he remembered between them had been wrong, not something about her. But the more he thought, the more he remembered the pink Astroranger uniform that should have been on Arcadia whenever he thought of her. But why was it not? He had loved her and could not even remember the colors that she had worn since the first day he had met her. How could he ever forget anything about her?

"Maybe you _are _ready to move on," Zhane said. "If you can forget a detail like that, it must mean something."

"It means that I'm a horrible person," Andros said tearfully.

"You're not a horrible person." Zhane said with a sigh.

"If it were ten years ago that she died, maybe forgetting that would be okay," Andros argued. "But it's been a year. I shouldn't have trouble remembering things like that."

"Maybe when you couldn't see enough of Arcadia in Ashley, you forced it," Zhane began. "And when _that_ failed, your mind made a comparison between them that you wouldn't be able to ignore."

"Why?" Andros asked sadly. "Why would I want to forget anything about Arcadia?"

"You don't," Zhane reassured him. "At least, not consciously… That's why you made a connection between them that wasn't there. It was the only way you could constantly keep Arcadia on your mind. You could use it to make yourself mad at Ashley and reject anything about her that you actually liked because if Ashley were just like Arcadia to you, you'd never like her. You'd never be sure if you liked her only because she reminded you of Arcadia."

"Then, you're saying that I _don't_ want to move on," Andros concluded. "My mind is playing tricks on me to _keep_ me from liking Ashley… Maybe I should just listen to it."

"I think you want to move on, but you feel like you'd be betraying Arcadia," Zhane said. "But you actually like Ashley, don't you?"

Andros nodded.

"You still don't look too sure," Zhane said, studying his face carefully.

"It's just… Kim and Tommy were in here earlier," Andros explained. "They were talking to each other about Ashley and they said that, even though I don't know her that well, I might like her based on what I did after she was hurt."

"Well, I don't know Cassie that well either," Zhane said. "But that's why we're going to talk. I want to get to know her. And I think you _do_ like Ashley. I think you like her so much that you were willing to die on Onyx for her."

"Maybe," Andros said, lowering his eyes. "But why is that so hard for me to admit?" Andros asked distantly after a moment.

Zhane shrugged. "You still need time," he said. "And I think it'd help you to know whether or not she liked you back."

"I didn't imagine her being mad at me, did I?" Andros asked softly.

"No," Zhane said, shaking his head. "That was real, unfortunately. I can't help but think that it had to do with whatever happened between you two when she gave the envelope back."

"I asked her if she looked at it," he recalled. "But I didn't yell, at least, I don't _think_ I yelled."

"I'm pretty sure she _did_ look at it," Zhane replied. "And she was crying when I talked to her, especially when I…"

"When you what?" Andros asked.

"She asked me to show her what Arcadia looked like," he answered. "She asked me if I thought she looked like her."

"She knew I was comparing her to Arcadia," Andros said, nodding as he began to understand. "If she ever really did like me, I really blew it."

"Andros, look at her," Zhane said, waiting until Andros turned his head to Ashley before continuing. "Do you see Arcadia in her anymore?"

"No," Andros said. "I haven't seen Arcadia in her for a while now. She's even in my dreams sometimes and Arcadia won't come to me anymore…"

"Can you see yourself being happy with Ashley?" Zhane asked.

"If she likes me," Andros said. "If she wakes up…"

"If she was standing in front of you and telling you that she liked you," Zhane reiterated. "If you decided that you wanted to give it a shot, could you see yourself being happy with her?"

"I don't know," Andros said.

Zhane shook his head to himself. "Whatever's holding you back from what you really feel about Ashley, you need to let go before she wakes up."

"How?"

"Do what I'm going to do," Zhane said with a shrug. "Get closure. I used to see Camilla in daydreams and talk to her, mostly about how _you_ were taking things. I was able to force it like you could with your dreams. I still can and I'll let Camilla go as gently as I can, just like you should do with Arcadia."

"You know how crazy that sounds out loud, right?" Andros asked.

"I do," Zhane replied with a smile. "But it's crazier to hold onto something that isn't tangible anymore. I don't think you should forget about her or what you had with her. But you have to allow room for other memories, not just with Ashley but with the other people here who want to be your friend. You told me that you'd try to be nice when they got here. Now I'd like you to do more than try. Accept that they'll be here for a while and get some friends out of this deal."

Andros nodded. "I will," he said.

"I've heard that before," Zhane reminded him.

"I really mean it this time," Andros said. "I want to move on… Do you think you could fit me into your Cassie schedule and help me out every now and then?"

"You know I will," Zhane said. "But right now, you just focus on getting some rest and maybe you can try that dream thing that I suggested. Either way, you need some sleep so you can get better. You're still in recovery for another day or so."

"I didn't forget," Andros said, lying back down.

"I'll bring you something to eat in a minute," Zhane said. "I want you sleeping when I get back. We're going to need you at your best as soon as possible. We're still shard-less and there's no telling what Astronema might do between now and the time we get Ashley to Earth."

"Do we still have to do that?" Andros asked. "Do we still have to leave her on Earth?"

"I think it'll be best for her," Zhane said, walking toward the door. "And I think you know that already. So don't worry about it and get some sleep."

"Yeah," Andros said, closing his eyes as Zhane disappeared from his view.

It was not long after that before he found himself asleep, opening his eyes to find himself in a dream. He looked around him, waiting for Arcadia to come but she would not. He could not feel her presence or hear her voice like he used to. But then, he had not called her to his dream this time and Andros knew that she might never come to him again if he did not. But he refused to force it.

Letting go of Arcadia could wait another night or so.


	15. Chapter 15

Ch 15

"Where did your friends go, rangers?" Ecliptor said, blasting back the four Power Rangers that had attempted to surround him.

The rangers had all groaned upon hearing that there was a disturbance on Sylis-4, knowing that they would now be far enough from Earth to keep Ashley from receiving adequate medical care. But it was also because they were two rangers down and no closer to having any shards. But they had all teleported to Sylis-4 upon seeing the Dark Fortress within the planet's orbit, suspecting that there must have been shards there or at least nearby.

Their suspicions had been confirmed when they were immediately attacked by Ecliptor and several quantrons, many of which seemed to suddenly lose interest in the fight and wandered around the planet with scanners. The Veo Tech Rangers had agreed to look for any shards there themselves, able to detect them using their morphers, which increased in brightness the moment they teleported to the planet.

And so the Astrorangers were left alone, their power quickly proven to be almost useless in fighting Ecliptor. They had very little that they could use against him. Two rangers down meant three weapons down –the Spiral Saber, the Star Slinger, and the use of the Quadroblaster. Even Zhane's powers seemed to pale against Ecliptor's energy blasts after a while.

They knew that it was all a distraction to keep the rangers from finding the shards. If the Astrorangers were in enough trouble, then other rangers would have to go back and help. And the Veo Tech Rangers were certainly taking their time getting back so the Astrorangers had no choice but to hold on a little longer, though they were not sure that they could take much more.

"We can defeat you without their help," T.J. said confidently enough to believe it himself.

"It hasn't happened yet," Ecliptor shot back, blasting at the Blue Astroranger a second time.

T.J. dodged the attack, firing at Ecliptor with his weapon in Booster Mode with the others. The attack did not seem to faze Ecliptor at all, only making him stagger backward a little. With every failed attack they tried, it seemed more and more obvious that the Astrorangers would not be able to win the fight as long as they were without the Veo Tech Rangers or at least their Red and Yellow Rangers.

By the time they had gotten up from the ground for a sixth time, they were looking over their shoulders for the Veo Tech Rangers. They were getting desperate now and Ecliptor had begun to notice.

"It's good that you don't need them because I don't think that your friends are coming back for you," Ecliptor said, his eyes glowing as he prepared to blast them again. "Just bravely accept your defeat at my hands and stop cowering."

"Who's cowering to _you_?" the rangers heard from behind them, making them scramble to their feet.

Behind them stood the Veo Tech Rangers, or at least rangers that looked like them. Over their usual suits were similar-looking suits of heavier armor and in their hands were completely different weapons than usual. And in Tommy's hand was a long shard piece that glowed red in his hand.

"_Your_ friends didn't like playing with our new toys," Adam said, looking down at the oversized axe in his hand. "So they sent us to play with you."

"Hope you're up for it," Aisha said, gripping a Y-shaped weapon in her hands that crackled with yellow electric energy. "Because the Super Veo Tech Rangers tend to play rough."

"We'll see how super you are," Ecliptor growled as he eyed the shard in Tommy's hand and directed a blast at him.

"Veo Binding Staff," Tommy called as the blast reached him, spinning a long red staff in front of him to block the attack and absorb its energy into it. "You'll have to do better than that, Ecliptor."

"I will," Ecliptor replied angrily, running toward the rangers.

"Veo Desert Storm Axe," Adam yelled, swinging his large axe at Ecliptor and connecting hard with the monster as the weapon swung green energy at him.

"Veo Genesis Stunner," Aisha said, holding out her weapon and directing the two bolts of electricity that came from it at Ecliptor. The energy wrapped around the weakened monster and sent electricity through his body as it held him and Rocky stepped forward with his own weapon.

"Veo Tide Trident," Rocky called, making a circular motion with it in the air and bringing the three prongs of it down hard on the ground. A rush of blue water came from the ground behind Ecliptor in a wave that completely covered him and intensified the electricity going through him.

"My turn," Kim said as the water and electricity disappeared and Ecliptor stumbled backward. "Veo Windward Crossbow!"

Kim aimed the pink and white crossbow in her hands at Ecliptor and fired, sending six arrows of bright pink energy at him. The arrows collided with him in six combined explosions that sent him staggering backward. A seventh arrow appeared on the crossbow, much longer and powerful than the other arrows had been and Kim fired it, blasting Ecliptor to the ground. But even in his weakened state, Ecliptor got back to his feet and fired at the Veo Tech Rangers again, not seeming to be the least bit threatened by their new powers.

"All right, then," Tommy began, tossing the shard to Zhane and holding his staff with both hands as he easily blocked the attack. "Looks like we'll have to put you down the old-fashioned way."

Ecliptor drew his sword, going against Tommy and his staff and making no headway in getting the Red Veo Tech Ranger to go down. He could barely keep up with the speed and power of the ranger's weapon, not familiar enough with how this ranger fought to expose any weaknesses. But Tommy found that Ecliptor's biggest weakness was his speed. Tommy realized quickly how much faster his staff was making him and he gradually built up his speed as Ecliptor began matching it. Soon, the ranger was a blur to him and the other watching rangers, who began to see the damage that the staff strikes were causing Ecliptor. Finally, Tommy sped away from Ecliptor, leaving the weakened and damaged monster on the ground. The Veo Tech Rangers surrounded him, their weapons ready to strike, but Ecliptor disappeared.

"That was incredible," T.J. said, rushing over to the rangers.

"The shard did that?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah," Kim answered. "As soon as we had it, the power from it surrounded us and we got this cool power-up."

"Forget about the new power for a minute," Rocky asked, looking down at the shard in Zhane's hand. "Big picture: we finally have a shard."

"Yeah, finally," Tommy said. "One shard down and possibly several others to go. So I'd say it's a little too early to celebrate."

"Yeah," Carlos agreed. "Besides, we still have to get Ashley to Earth. We don't have time to waste."

"Carlos is right," Zhane said. "Let's get back to the ship."

Andros sat quietly on the floor of the Simudeck, wondering what he could possibly do next. He had already trained for an hour, much longer than he was supposed to do in his current condition. And he had spent another thirty minutes doing system check functions on the bridge, or rather, redoing them as they had already been completed by the other rangers. When he finished with that, he found himself back on the Simudeck, leaning against the wall as he wondered how the others were doing on Sylis-4.

But even in the midst of his boredom, Andros was more relaxed than he had been in a long time. After all, he had the whole Megaship to himself and felt much better than he had the day before. Though, he had not started his morning feeling that way.

Andros had felt suddenly nauseous when he first opened his eyes that morning, knowing that it was nothing but butterflies. They were the butterflies that came with thinking about losing Ashley and that came with knowing how quickly they were approaching Earth. And the thought of her not being there with them had hit Andros so suddenly when he saw her in that moment that he almost began to cry. But he instead lay there silently, waiting until the waves of nausea passed before leaving the infirmary.

"You okay?" Andros heard a voice ask, making him look up.

"Yeah," Andros said, getting up from the floor and replacing his blank stare with one of reassurance. But Zhane did not seem too sure about his friend's answer.

"You sure?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Andros replied, nodding his head. "How'd everything go?"

Zhane smiled and held up the red shard. "Much better than usual," he said.

"You found a shard," Andros said, staring at it in awe as it began to glow a little. "This definitely looks like the real deal, not like the other ones."

"Yeah," Zhane agreed, handing it to him. "This time, we'll have a real one to compare to anything else we find."

"So, big fight?" Andros asked as Zhane began massaging an area on his arm.

"Ecliptor," Zhane nodded. "He really tore into us… I was actually a little worried for a while."

"Oh, come on," Andros replied. "You're the Silver Ranger and Ecliptor is… he's just Ecliptor. You've fought him probably a hundred times before today and most of those times you were alone."

"Yeah, but this was different," Zhane said. "_He_ was different. His power has increased quite a bit since the last time I fought him. If I'd been alone today, I don't think I'd have made it back."

"But you did make it back," Andros pointed out. "So Ecliptor can't be as strong as you think."

"It wasn't my power that defeated him," Zhane said softly. "It wasn't Astroranger power at all that stopped him."

Andros sighed a little. "The Veo Tech Rangers?" he asked, shaking his head when Zhane confirmed it with a nod. "They turn into the Turbo Rangers again?"

"Not this time," Zhane said. "When they found the shard, they were able to use a new power: Super Veo Tech Ranger mode."

"_Another_ power-up?" Andros asked, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah," Zhane answered. "They found the shard and defeated Ecliptor all in less than an hour. Pretty good, huh?"

Andros said nothing, handing the shard back to Zhane as he thought to himself.

"What are you thinking?" Zhane finally asked when he could not take the silence anymore.

"It's just… there was a time when _we_ were considered to be one of the most powerful ranger teams in the universe," he began with a sigh.

"Yeah, but the Veo Tech Rangers didn't exist until recently," Zhane argued defeatedly. "We were powerful by default… You jealous or something?"

"You're not?" he asked.

"No reason I should be," Zhane said with a shrug. "We're all on the same side. We can't afford petty emotions like jealousy right now."

"Maybe," Andros said, still deep in thought. "Well, have you heard them mention anything about what they'll do if we get all the Veo Prism shards together?"

"I haven't, but I don't think they'll be giving up these powers anytime soon if we do," Zhane replied. "I mean, would you?"

"No, I guess not," he answered slowly, saying nothing else for a moment.

"What is it?" Zhane asked him.

"Do you ever get the feeling that if they knew enough about space navigation they might not need us?"

"I did today," Zhane admitted. "But they _don't_ know enough and they _do_ need us, so I didn't dwell on it for long."

"Maybe you should have," Andros said. "Once the Veo Prism is back together, they'll probably be at the peak of their power, right? So why would they need us anymore? They barely need us now."

"We were two rangers down today," Zhane said. "And I really think that maybe that's _all_ that happened today. Our powers work as a single unit. If we're missing any part, then we aren't as powerful. But the Veo Tech Rangers have nearly unlimited power because they aren't necessarily meant to work as a single unit. The shards were scattered around the universe, with a ranger or two protecting each shard. Their powers had to be strong individually being split up and having to defend themselves from monsters all alone. And they would always be with a portion of their power source with a shard close by, so their power _could _always be strong. Just because their power is greater, it doesn't mean that we don't help them."

"I know that," Andros said. "And I'm not trying to get rid of them or anything like that. I was just thinking about things."

"Why?" Zhane asked. "I know you and there must be a point to all this."

Andros shrugged.

"If I ask you something, will you promise to answer me truthfully?" Zhane asked.

"Sure," Andros answered.

"Are you really planning to use the Veo Prism?" he asked, studying Andros' expression carefully.

"After Wan's warnings, the idea seems less and less of a good one," Andros began. "But I wonder if maybe it could help Ashley… If it's as powerful as everyone is making it out to be, maybe we can use it to wake her up."

"After all of Wan's warnings, the fact that you're still considering using the Veo Prism is troubling," Zhane replied. "He said that it nearly destroyed the universe. That's pretty much the opposite of what Power Rangers are supposed to do."

"Yeah, I know," he said. "Like I said, I was just wondering. I wouldn't act on it… really."

"I believe you," Zhane said, backing toward the door. "But then, I believed you when you said that you'd be nice to the others. I believed that you wouldn't do anything stupid after what happened to Ashley and then you took a strength potion and nearly got yourself killed… But maybe I'm just naïve."

"Kind of sounds that way," Andros said, leaning against the wall.

"You should really be resting right now," Zhane said. "We'll need you at your best if Astronema attacks again."

"I won't need to be at my best as long as the Super Veo Tech Rangers are on the scene," he replied, catching Zhane's expression. "It's a joke."

"No, it isn't," Zhane said softly. "And I'm going to go before you start saying more things that you shouldn't. Just… you know, take it easy on yourself today. It's still too early for you to be moving around like this."

"I'll be careful," Andros assured him as Zhane left the Simudeck.

Andros stood up straight and walked to the middle of the Simudeck.

"Begin simulation," he said. There was no way that he would be able to rest now. Not when the Veo Tech Rangers were getting stronger by the day. He had some catching up to do, motive to keep his training going. There was no time for resting anymore. Besides, there was no way that he was going back to the infirmary if he could help it. Just the thought of going back there was enough to make him a little nauseous and he quickly shook away his thoughts as the room began filling with quantrons.

Andros fought them as they attacked, not taking the initiative to go after them first as he usually did. The nausea that he had just shaken off returned suddenly and he stopped briefly after dispatching of the quantrons, stopping the simulation as he struggled to catch his breath. But in just a few minutes, he was fine again and left wondering what had just happened to him. But he already knew. His body was warning him. It was letting him know that he needed to stop what he was doing. But he could not stop now.

"Begin simulation," he said, wiping away the few droplets of sweat that had begun to form on his forehead.

But nothing happened and he looked around him in confusion.

"Begin simulation," he repeated a little louder, sighing when nothing happened again. "DECA, start the simulation."

"You are still in recovery," DECA reminded him. "My sensors indicate that your blood pressure is increasing and it would not be in your best interest for you to –"

"DECA, start the simulation and let me worry about…" Andros stopped as quickly as he began, suddenly feeling very lightheaded. It was a moment before he realized that he had begun to fall backward and by then it was too late to stop his head from connecting with the floor.

"_Andros, are you okay?" Andros heard as a gentle hand brushed against his cheek._

_Andros looked up at Arcadia and smiled a little as he sat up and took her hand. "I didn't think I'd see you again," he said softly._

"_What reason did I really have to stay?" she asked with a shrug. _

"_You're right," he said. "I didn't listen when you said that I wasn't remembering things correctly. But the way that I feel about you hasn't changed. I still love you."_

"_And you always will," Arcadia said with a smile. "I know that… But that isn't enough, Andros. Is it?"_

"_It's enough for me," Andros replied._

"_Then, what about her?" Arcadia asked, nodding to someone just over Andros' shoulder._

_Andros turned around, finding Ashley standing in front of him, not especially upset about seeing him with Arcadia and not especially anything else in particular. She just stood there staring back at him as long as his eyes were on her._

"_What about her?" Andros asked Arcadia, his eyes still locked on Ashley._

"_You're completely drawn to her," Arcadia said. "Otherwise, she wouldn't be here right now. Didn't you say that you loved her?"_

"_No," Andros said, trying to figure out the expression on Ashley's face. "I never used the word 'love'. I barely used the word 'like'. Ashley wasn't even my friend before we went to Onyx. I hardly expect her to be my girlfriend when she wakes up."_

_Ashley smiled at him, making Andros lower his eyes. "You're a really bad liar," she said. "What's worse is that the only person you ever lie to is yourself."_

"_And it's always been that way," Arcadia said, placing her hands on his shoulders and pushing him gently toward Ashley. "Now tell her how you feel and get it all over with."_

"_I don't –I didn't," Andros stammered as he was nudged closer and closer to Ashley. _

"_You were on board with this yesterday," Arcadia said when Andros planted his feet and stopped moving. "What's changed?"_

"_I don't love her," Andros said, turning to face Arcadia again. "She saved my life and I'm glad. But that shouldn't mean that I have to love her. I love _you_."_

"_Then why is she here?" Arcadia asked, calming him with her serene expression._

"_You asked me that before," Andros said, shaking his head. "I don't know why she's here. But I'm concerned about leaving her behind on Earth and I see her every time I open my eyes. I mean, of course she's on my mind. People are trying to talk me into liking her and I'm listening like an idiot when all I want to do is be with you."_

"_Andros, this is the only place that I can be with you," she replied. "You say that it's enough for you, but it isn't. You really do like her, but you don't want to because _I'm_ here. I'm the reason that you're unhappy and she's probably the only one who can bring you any happiness again. But you have to let her."_

"_She's in a coma," Andros pointed out softly, lowering his eyes. "So I can't let her do anything. She's gone… just like you. She's gone and I'll never be able to like her or even apologize for the way I've treated her and the other rangers."_

"_I'm not gone," Ashley said from behind him. "And I know that you didn't mean to be –"_

"_I don't want to hear this," he interrupted, turning back to her. "This is a dream and you're not really… I'll be ready to hear it when you wake up and tell me. Not in a dream where my ex-fiancée is trying to get us together. I love Arcadia, not you… Never you."_

"_Don't worry," Ashley said. "I won't be here for much longer anyway. I just came to tell you goodbye."_

"_So you won't even be in my head once you leave the ship?" Andros asked. "Seems doubtful."_

"_All of that is up to you," Ashley said. "You know how I feel about you, Andros. And in spite of everything you've said here, I know how you really feel about me. I'll only be here if you want me to be. It's the only reason I'm here now."_

"_How _do_ you feel about me?" he asked._

"_I really like you," she answered with a smile. "And I hope that you'll admit that you like me someday. But feel free to take your time. I guess we'll have quite a bit of that for a while, won't we?"_

_He watched as she stepped closer to him and took his hand, surprised that he did not pull away from her. His reaction to her touch was that of sadness and he could not look up at her as long as there were tears in his eyes._

"_I like you, Ashley," he said quietly. "But I love Arcadia… I can't change that and I'm not sure that I'm ready to let her go yet. All I can do is promise that I'll find a way to wake you up so that I can tell you all of this to your face. And then, if you'll let me, I might be ready then to hold your hand for real."_

"_I'll be waiting," Ashley replied when he was finally able to look into her eyes._

Andros opened his eyes at the sound of a familiar sigh. He turned to his right to see Zhane sitting by his side in the infirmary, staring down at him in annoyance.

"Finally awake, huh?" Zhane asked, biting his lower lip as if to keep further words from coming out.

"Yeah," Andros replied. "I guess I overdid it a little. I'm sorry."

"Glad to hear you admit it," Zhane said, standing up from his seat. "Guess I can go now."

"You leaving me?" he asked as Zhane started toward the door.

"Got no reason to stay, do I?"

"Oh, come on," Andros said, sitting up. "This is the part where you tell me how stupid I am. You should probably mention something about how petty and unnecessary jealously is too. I'll be needing that."

Zhane stopped at the doorway, turning back to Andros with another sigh. "I'm not your teacher," he said with a shrug. "I'm not your dad or your mentor. I'm not anything really. I'm your friend and I think we can both agree that I've spent an unreasonable amount of time and energy explaining to you all these things that you should already know. I mean, I can tell you how stupid you are, but what good will it do? You'll tell me that you already knew that and do something even stupider later on. So, I quit. I don't want to be the voice of reason, especially if you're always going to ignore it. I'll watch you do and say dumb things and shake my head in disapproval, but I won't say anything anymore. It'll make things easier."

"Then, you're giving up on me?"

"I wouldn't say that," Zhane said. "I'll still be here. I'll give you my advice when you ask for it. I'll patch you up when you need it. But I have nothing left to say that you can't parrot back to me. You know the plays backward and forward. I can't make you listen to me and I'm done trying to make that happen."

Andros got down from the infirmary bed and stared at Zhane as he tried to think of the right thing to say. The last thing he needed right now was to lose his friend. "Zhane, I didn't exactly pass out on purpose," he began, knowing that the hostility in his voice would likely not be helpful. "You said that you guys lost because you didn't have me or Ashley. We won't always have the Veo Tech Rangers to bail us out of fights, so I started training to help the team and I went a bit overboard. But I'm fine. I feel a little weak, but I'm fine."

"Okay, Andros," Zhane said unbelievingly. "You were helping the team and you're fine… Can I go now?"

"Not until you tell me what you think it is that I did wrong."

"We don't have that kind of time," Zhane replied, rolling his eyes. "But all I asked of you before I left was what? Something about taking it easy on yourself maybe? Remembering that you're still in recovery? You told me that you'd be careful and here you are in the infirmary again."

"It's like I said, Zhane. This wasn't on purpose. As soon as I started, I felt dizzy and I slowed down until I felt a little better –"

"When you should have stopped," Zhane finished. "Andros, you're not a baby. You know when your body needs rest and you shouldn't have to pass out to get that rest… I tell you to take it easy and you do a full training sequence. DECA tells you to stop training out of concern and you try to keep going anyway. I don't know if you have some kind of problem with authority figures, but I've noticed that you always do the opposite of what I or DECA say. I'm starting to think that you'll do the opposite of what anyone says."

"So, what do you want me to do?" Andros asked angrily. "Nothing I do is good enough for you and I'm starting think –"

"Don't," Zhane interrupted, holding up a hand to stop Andros. "Like I said, I'm not your father. You don't seek my approval for anything you do and you don't much care what I think about anything anyway. You followed me when I led the team because you respected my leadership, not my opinions. It's my fault that I didn't know the difference."

"So, is this what a good leader does, Zhane?" Andros asked.

"You don't get to tell me what a good leader does and doesn't do," Zhane interrupted again. "The same thing goes for good friends too… Don't misunderstand me. The team needs you to be okay. _I _need you to be. So just do that because today is going to be harder than yesterday."

"Yesterday?" Andros repeated. "Did I sleep through the rest of the day?"

"Yeah," Zhane said. "We're in Earth's orbit and Ashley's leaving today."

"So she's really leaving," Andros said sadly, lowering his eyes. "You're really going to let her leave…"

"In about six hours," Zhane said. "So if you have anything to say to her, you should probably say it soon. And if I were you, I'd prepare a speech."

"I've said what I needed to," Andros said, recalling his dream. "I don't need a speech."

"Then, you already know what you're going to say to Ashley's parents when they ask what happened to her?" he asked. "Because I don't think that you'll be able to wing it."

"Her parents?"

"Yeah, I figure I'll greet them and explain that their daughter is a Power Ranger," Zhane said with a nod. "That alone should be hard enough for them to accept. Then, you can explain what happened to her on Onyx."

"How is that fair?" Andros asked.

"Well, you were leading the team when it happened," Zhane pointed out. "I think it's plenty fair. And more importantly, it's not up for discussion."

Without another word, Zhane turned back to the door, triggering the sensors to open it.

"Some leader you are," Andros called after him, making Zhane stop in his tracks. "Nice show of initiative and bravery, leaving me with the hard part of talking to the parents. That's real nice. You're a great friend."

Zhane sighed softly and shook his head, continuing down the corridor in silence.

Andros lowered his eyes as the infirmary door closed, suddenly feeling a distance between him and Zhane that he had not felt before. Even during the time that Andros had chosen to cut himself off from Zhane after the other rangers had died, he had not felt the void that cutting himself off had created. But Zhane had felt it for months, and now, over the course of a single conversation, it felt as though he and Zhane had not spoken in years.

Andros glanced back at Ashley, lying in her infirmary bed with the same look on her face that he had seen in his dream. He knew now what the look had been. It was a look somewhere between happiness and sadness. It was a look of peace. And what was worse was that it was the same look that he had seen on Zhane's face when he opened his eyes moments ago. Unlike Ashley, that was the peace that came with letting something go… with letting _someone_ go. That was why Zhane said that not talking to Andros would be easier. Not talking made it easier to let him go.

In spite of Zhane's reassurance, Andros was certain that he had lost a friend today. And he would soon be losing another one in less than six hours.


	16. Chapter 16

Ch 16

Andros sat alone in the infirmary, staring quietly at Ashley from his bed. He had not slept for the past six hours since Zhane had left his room and he had only just sat up again to DECA's soft voice informing him of their arrival on Earth. He finally got up and began to pace, practicing his speech to Ashley's parents in his head over and over. And each time, no matter what he changed or switched around, his words seemed insincere and forced.

He stopped in front of Ashley and looked down at her with a sigh, wondering if he should say something to her. After all, this would be the last time that he would see her until she woke up again. But he could not think of anything to say to her that he had not already said. He sat down beside her after a while, placing his hand on hers as she continued to sleep.

"Why won't you wake up?" he whispered to her. "I don't want to take your morpher, Ashley. You were a good ranger and I'm sorry that I never told you that. But if you don't wake up, I can't let you keep the Astromorpher anymore… Please, Ashley… "

"Excuse me, are you Andros?" a female voice asked from behind him.

Andros quickly got to his feet and turned to the voice, finding himself face-to-face with three people that he could only assume were Ashley's family. The older man and woman were a little taller than he was, both dressed somewhat formally and looking fairly sad as they walked over to him slowly, staring around the room at all the foreign technology that surrounded them. But the young man stood by the doorway, staring down tearfully at Ashley.

"Yes," Andros answered when he cleared his throat and found his voice again, but he could not think of much else that he could say, his practiced words briefly gone. "I'm sorry that we have to meet like this. I know that all of this must be difficult for you."

Mr. Hammond held out his hand for Andros to shake, his firm grip coming together with Andros' shaky hand. "Well, according to Zhane, you're losing a good fighter for a while," he said. "So, I'd imagine that it might be just as tough on you."

Andros nodded a little. "Did you know before this that Ashley was a ranger?" he asked.

"We figured that she was doing something that she didn't think we'd approve of," Mr. Hammond replied, shaking his head. "We just weren't sure what it might be. I mean, she was almost never home. We'd get the occasional call from the school about Ashley missing cheerleading practice or skipping a few classes in the middle of the day. Thinking back on everything, it still seems… it's unbelievable."

"She was a very important member of our team," Andros said, lowering his eyes. "She always will be."

"So, Zhane told us that you were with her when she was hurt," Mrs. Hammond said, looking up at Andros with her teary, brown eyes. "Exactly what was it that happened?"

Andros cleared his throat softly as he tried to remember the speech that he had been practicing for the past hour. "We were all searching for something important on a planet called Onyx," he began slowly, still unable to look up at them. "We were attacked there and… Ashley was hurt while we were fighting. She saved my life."

"Did she?" the young man inquired at the door. "And with the ten of you there, no one else could have saved hers?"

"Eric," Mr. Hammond warned sternly.

"Fine, whatever," Eric mumbled, folding his arms and looking down at the floor guiltily as he caught his mother's disappointed expression.

"The monsters that we were fighting that day were the same ones that destroyed my last teammates," Andros explained, furrowing his brow at the memory. "We barely made it through the fight and we should have retreated long before then, but I… _we_ didn't. We chose to keep fighting and we paid for it."

"With my sister's life," Eric muttered.

"Ashley isn't dead," Andros reminded them all with a sigh. "She'll be okay eventually, we just –"

"Don't know when," Eric finished with a nod. "Your friend Zhane gave us the song and dance and we know what a coma is. I wish someone would tell me something that I don't already know."

"Maybe you should wait outside for us," Mr. Hammond suggested, glaring at Eric.

"No, I'm fine where I am," Eric replied stubbornly. "Please, Andros. I'm all ears."

"Pay him no mind, Andros," Mrs. Hammond said softly.

"No, he's right to be angry," Andros said. "Ashley saved me as a knee-jerk reaction, I think. It was my own fault that I didn't see the immediate danger that I was in. Everything that happened on Onyx was my fault… We were all there and we should have been looking out for each other. But I wasn't looking out for anyone, not even myself. That's why Ashley had to save me in the first place. She was struck with a blow that should have hit me and I couldn't even react. After she went through all the trouble of saving me, I got hit with a similar blast and was hurt anyway."

"You shouldn't blame yourself," Mr. Hammond said. "We know our Ashley and she's always had this heroic personality about her, even before she was a Power Ranger. As far as we're concerned, the only ones at fault here are those monsters."

"The monsters might have left us alone while we were there, except… I provoked them," Andros admitted, swallowing hard as the truth came out. "I wasn't thinking and I just couldn't stop myself, I guess."

"Andros, it's all right," Mrs. Hammond said. "As a Power Ranger, I can't imagine that _no_ _one_ ever gets hurt. This time, it was you and our daughter and there's no fault. This was just something that happened."

But Andros shook his head as a tear found its way down his cheek. "No," he said in frustration. "This is my fault. I _am_ to blame. Ashley's lying there because of me. I know that, the others know that, even your son knows that."

"I can't imagine that you could understand," Mrs. Hammond said, gently brushing away Andros' tears. "You can blame yourself for the rest of your life, but I know Ashley and she'd never blame you for this. She'd probably try to blame herself. But I'm starting to understand _you_ a little now in the short time that we've spoken… You won't let this go until we give you what you've been waiting for –yelling or crying or fighting, I don't know what you were expecting. Certainly not understanding, I'll assume. But that's all we have for you, Andros. You won't be able to make us hate you for this."

"But… but I…" Andros began, choked by the lump in his throat that forced more tears out. He turned away quickly until he could calm himself, finding it most difficult to do while looking at Ashley and with Mrs. Hammond's hand on his shoulder. But he was able to compose himself long enough to turn back to them, wondering if it were possible for him to feel any more pathetic at the moment.

"I'm sorry," he said after a minute.

"You've really done a number on yourself, Andros," Mr. Hammond said, shaking his head at him. "Don't let anyone tell you that this was your fault."

"I just don't know how I can make up for this," Andros continued. "There has to be something that I can do."

"You obviously cared a lot about our daughter," Mrs. Hammond said softly. "But it's as you said, Ashley is still alive. She'll be okay when she wakes up. You shouldn't forget that either."

"Yes," Andros whispered in agreement, his eyes still downcast.

Mrs. Hammond sighed. "If what you really want is a way to make this whole thing up to us, then I have a suggestion."

"Anything, Mrs. Hammond," Andros said, lifting his head.

"First, you'll call us Doug and Lynn," she said with a kind smile. "Then, you'll ask Zhane for the information that we gave him and you'll give us a call every once in a while to check on Ashley. Do you think you can do that for us?"

Andros' expression relaxed a little, the solemn look gone from his face. "I can do that… Lynn," he said.

"And you had better stop being so hard on yourself," she replied. "No more blaming yourself or anyone else and I mean it."

"I promise," he said quietly, a bit flustered by the long-missed maternal treatment Lynn was giving him suddenly. "I can call you tomorrow if you'd like."

"We'd like that," Mr. Hammond replied, gently putting a hand on his wife's back. "They're supposed to be sending up some people soon to take Ashley off the ship and we don't want to hold up your mission any further, so I guess we'd better get going."

"Yes, I suppose we'd better," Mrs. Hammond sighed, opening her arms for a hug and embracing him tightly. "You take care, Andros. And don't forget to call."

"I won't," Andros said, letting her go and watching as she and Mr. Hammond walked out of the infirmary with a wave.

Only Eric stayed behind, glaring at Andros for a moment before finally walking over to him with his arms folded. He stared at Andros a minute or two longer before finally deciding on what to say.

"I don't blame you for this either," Eric said, though the angry look on his face begged to differ. "But I have a question for you and I'll know if you're lying to me."

"Okay," Andros replied, not sure what to expect. After all, Eric had not exactly been shy about his concerns so far.

"Did my sister mean anything to you?" he asked.

"Of course she did," Andros answered. "She's an important –"

"Part of the team," Eric finished with a fake yawn. "Yeah, yeah, I know. But that's not what I meant. I guess what I really want to know is whether or not you liked her. Not as a person, not as a teammate –did you _like_ my sister?"

Andros closed his eyes with a sigh. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?" he thought aloud, putting a hand into his pocket to feel around for the envelope that he had not opened in quite some time. It was still a little crumpled from the morning after Ashley had gotten hurt and he had dropped it. "No, not asking. Everyone keeps _telling_ me that she liked me or that I liked her."

"Well, did you?" Eric asked.

"Like I said, people keep saying that she liked me," Andros replied. "And I thought that she was a nice person, but I didn't know her very well. So, I don't think that I liked her that way."

"You 'don't think' you did?" Eric repeated. "Sorry, but I'm going to need something a little more solid than that."

"Why?" Andros finally asked. "What difference does it make whether or not I liked her?"

Eric sighed. "I don't know what my parents saw when they came in here, but I know what _I _saw," he began. "I saw how you looked at her and I've never seen a guy look like that at his teammate. Maybe you didn't know her very well, but that doesn't mean anything. So, I'll ask you again… did she mean anything to you?"

Andros looked down as he considered it, recalling his last dream about Ashley. The words that he had spoken to her, or rather the words that he had wanted to say to the real Ashley had been fairly clear. He had not come out and said it to her, but he _did_ like her. He remembered saying it aloud after Tommy and Kim had mentioned it to one another too, but he had extinguished the thought upon realizing that she may have stopped liking him.

The only thing stopping him from really liking her was Arcadia. She was gone now and somehow he wanted her more, even knowing that he could never have her again. He still loved her, even though he liked Ashley now.

Andros looked up at Eric just then, knowing the answer to his question after all. He liked Ashley. And even if she might not really like him back now, he could still conclude that he liked her in a different way than he initially thought and that was all that Eric wanted to know right now. And hopefully, Eric would not ask for anything more than that.

"I _do_ like her," Andros said to him.

"Good," Eric said, carefully studying Andros' face for any signs of deceit.

Andros maintained eye contact, hoping that Eric would pick up on his sincerity. And it seemed to work as Eric sized him up a little longer before backing toward the doorway with a sigh.

"I believe you," Eric said, turning to face the door. "So, I guess I'll get going. I just needed to be sure."

"I'm still not sure why it was so important to you," Andros said, stopping Eric in his tracks as he began walking away.

Eric glanced back at Andros and smiled a little. "It's so that when I talk to Ashley, I can remind her every day of what or who she has waiting for her when she wakes up. And who knows, maybe she'll hear me and I'll be able to tell her something that she didn't already know."

Andros smiled back. "Well, if she hears you, then I won't have to tell her myself," he said, looking back at her.

"If she hears me, then she can probably hear us now," Eric pointed out, walking down the corridor toward the Megalift. "So, she might already know."

Andros sighed as Eric disappeared into the Megalift, knowing that he had somehow been tricked into admitting something that he had not been ready to admit just yet. But he had to also admit that it felt better to get it off his chest.

After a moment, he walked out of the infirmary, not wanting to greet the people transporting Ashley off the ship. He walked to the Megalift and headed for the bridge, knowing that the others would likely be accumulated there. He was not sure that he was ready to face them or Zhane just yet, but he would have to do it sooner or later and sooner seemed less strenuous than later.

Just before he reached the bridge, he could hear the others discussing something but the thick walls of the Megalift made it impossible for him to hear any of it. It was only after the doors opened that he heard the end of their conversation and, not too surprising to Andros, it was about him.

"We can't just give up on him, guys," T.J. was saying to the others. "Andros was here long before we were and he's an important part of our team."

Important part of the team.

Andros cringed a little at those words, having recently used them to describe his feelings about Ashley. He wondered how practiced and stale the words might have sounded coming from him to Ashley's family. And he wished suddenly that he had not said it at all.

"Important, yes," Carlos agreed. "But useful, no… I hate to say this, but if you think about it, all he's done since we've teamed up with him is create trouble for us. When he isn't treating us like trash, he's picking fights with monsters that we can't win against without using everything we have or causing us to lose members of our team."

"He doesn't seem to be doing any of it on purpose," Adam pointed out. "I mean, he's only human, right? He's going to make a mistake or two every now and again."

Andros raised his eyebrows in surprise at Adam's words, glad to know that he had at least one more ranger on his side.

"Mistake?" Carlos repeated with a scoff. "What happened to Ashley was –"

"An accident," Aisha finished. "She jumped in front of him. He didn't tell her to, she chose to."

"Exactly," T.J. said. "He's not leading us anymore and that should be enough. We don't need to keep him from fighting with us altogether."

"All I know is that Andros put us in danger when we were on Onyx," Rocky said with a sigh. "He put us in danger when he went back to Onyx, even after he and Ashley were hurt. He works out beyond exhaustion and keels over on the Simudeck… It just seems to me like maybe he's asking for trouble all the time."

"Maybe it's kind of naïve of me, but it seems like he might be trying to change," Kim said. "He went back to Onyx because he felt bad about what happened to Ashley and he wanted to fix it. You don't know that you wouldn't have done the same thing in his position."

"We all know that we wouldn't do anything that stupid," Rocky replied, shaking his head.

"Still," Kim continued. "Andros deserves another chance. And we need all the help we can get to find the shards."

"He didn't exactly help us find the one we have now," Carlos pointed out. "He was too busy recovering from the last stupid thing he did."

"Zhane?" Cassie began, walking over to where Zhane was sitting and lightly guiding his hand into hers. "You've been pretty quiet about all of this. And I guess it's ultimately your decision… So, what do you think we should do?"

"I think that we're losing one of our friends today and, even if it really is for just a little while, it still hurts," Zhane said softly. "We're all hurting right now and we need someone or something to blame for it. Some of you have chosen to blame Andros for Ashley having to leave us and I understand why. But Andros isn't going anywhere, not now or ever. If he leaves the ship, it'll be because he wants to, not because any of you want him to."

"Zhane, he –" Carlos began in protest, cutting himself off when Zhane raised a hand to quiet him.

"Andros is the Red Astroranger," he said firmly. "He isn't going anywhere and I need everyone to accept that. So, no more voting on stuff like this. He leaves when he's ready, okay?"

The other rangers were silent, but they all nodded in agreement and Andros found the courage to walk through the doorway to greet the others.

"Is someone leaving?" Andros asked, hoping that the others had not noticed him just outside the doorway to know that he had been eavesdropping.

"No," Zhane answered quickly. "No one's leaving. Shouldn't you be resting now?"

"I was talking to Ashley's parents and brother a little while ago," Andros said, shaking his head. "So, I don't think I can sleep much right now. But I came down to talk to you guys for a minute… if that's okay."

"Is something wrong?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah," Andros answered with a heavy sigh. "Ashley's leaving and regardless of what Ashley's parents tell me, I know that it's my fault. And I'm sorry… I'm sorry that I acted so foolishly that day and that I've been acting that way since you got here. It was never personal. I just couldn't stand the thought of anyone taking the places of my teammates. They were my family."

"You could have told us that in the first place," Cassie said.

"It wouldn't have made any difference," Andros replied. "You guys knew that already… but I don't want to make excuses for myself anymore. I know that I probably don't deserve it, but I want your friendship and I want your trust, even if I have to earn them."

"You can earn our trust right now by answering one question," Rocky said, glancing over at Carlos who seemed to know the question that Rocky wanted the answer to.

Andros nodded, also seeming to understand the question. "Zhane asked me earlier if I planned to use the Veo Prism once it's together again," he said, confirming with their expressions the question on their minds. "And I'll tell you the same thing that I told him. I think that we could use it to help Ashley."

"What did you want to use it for before Ashley was hurt?" Carlos asked, folding his arms.

"I wanted to use it to help Wan," Andros said, not sure that it was a complete lie. "He's been paying for what he did with the Veo Prism for so long now. I wanted to use it to help him."

"Then, why were you so secretive about it?" Kim asked.

"You mean, you'd have let me use the Veo Prism?" he asked.

"Maybe," Aisha said. "But you didn't give us a chance to say no."

"What will you say now?" Andros asked softly, glancing around at the others.

"We have to find the rest of the shards first," Adam pointed out. "And when we do, we can decide together whether or not we should consider using it for anything. There's no point in arguing about using it when we don't have it yet."

"Until then, we'll try harder to trust you," Zhane said, though he did not look Andros in the eye. "And hopefully, you'll realize that you can trust us with anything. Now go get some sleep and recover so that the next time Astronema attacks us, you can make yourself useful."

"Yeah," Andros said, recalling Carlos' words about how useless he was in his current condition. "Oh and Zhane?"

Zhane met Andros' sincere eyes with indifference, letting Cassie's hand fall from his.

"Thanks," Andros said, saddened a little when Zhane cut his eyes away from him again. "You probably had your own reasons for making me talk to Ashley's family, but it was something that I really needed. So, thanks."

Zhane nodded in acknowledgement of his words, glancing his way once but saying nothing in return. He only brought his eyes back to him when Andros began walking away from the bridge and disappeared around a corner before leaving in the Megalift.

He turned around to face the main viewing screen with a sigh, pressing a few buttons at the station in front of him in a random enough pattern to make it look like he was doing something other than sulking. But in moments he felt Cassie's warm hands on his shoulders and he stopped suddenly, glancing back at her with a thankful half-smile but still saying nothing even as he placed a hand on one of hers and continued to stare ahead of him at nothing. And it was enough to get him through what little pain he allowed himself to feel. It was just enough for now.


	17. Chapter 17

Ch 17

Maybe there were no more shards.

After another three weeks of looking, the thought had started to cross the rangers' minds every once in a while. They seemed to be no closer to another Veo Prism shard than they had ever been. And every time that they thought that they might be close to one, they would find nothing except the Dark Fortress leaving the planet behind. Even at Hyper Rush Velocity, the Dark Fortress always seemed to beat the rangers to whichever planet they suspected of having a shard. And Astronema already had at least one other shard that they knew of now.

The rangers had spoken to Andros' friend Wan a few times for any hints or information about the shards, receiving very little information from him as he tried hard to hide its true function from them. And finally, he suggested that they start at the beginning again, on Inquiris where the four powerless rangers had journeyed to see Dimitria. It was under her guidance that they had run into Andros and Zhane, after all. And it would be much easier to travel there than to keep following the Dark Fortress.

Meanwhile, the Veo Tech Rangers were honing their skills little by little, training on the Simudeck every day and uncovering new things about their powers. And there was _always_ something new –a better defense strategy, a combination of different aspects of their powers, or devising strategies that involved the Astrorangers. With Ashley gone, there was no more Quadroblaster which had already set the rangers back on Sylis-4 a few weeks earlier. As a result, the Astrorangers had to work on new ways to combine their powers. And they figured that there was no better team to help them than the Veo Tech Rangers.

And all the while, both Andros' and Zhane's attitudes seemed to change. Zhane proved to be a great leader, as the others had expected, taking charge in a way that Andros never had and making sure that all of his friends were content. The indifference that he had towards Andros did not falter though and he had to be very careful about not taking out any of those feelings on his friends, especially Cassie. They had grown much closer as a couple, openly holding hands now and taking brief excursions on the Simudeck for dates during the night. But Zhane still hesitated at times, his mind on his issues with Andros instead of on her. He would always snap out of it for a while, but at the end of the day it was Andros that he last thought of before he slept at night. And he knew that it was only because Andros was starting to change too, surprisingly for the better since they left Ashley behind on Earth.

Andros seemed to be on a fairly tight schedule since the day that he spoke with Ashley's parents. He was following a strict regimen of diet, exercise, two hours a day communicating with Ashley's parents and brother, and rigorous training. And somehow he was able to pace himself through all of it without overexerting himself or causing himself any other harm.

He had even begun to talk a little more with the other rangers, slowly earning their respect as the days passed. He was shocked to find how easy it had been to do so, as opposed to how difficult it had been to stay so tough all the time. And in return, the rangers were glad to see the change in Andros. It was refreshing to know that he was capable of something other than keeping a bad attitude. Even now, Andros was comfortable enough around the rangers to carry on a complete conversation with Lynn Hammond on the bridge with a genuine smile on his face.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, Lynn," Andros said, leaning closer to the speaker. "Does Eric know yet?"

"Not yet," she replied. "I just told Doug a few hours ago and he can't seem to wrap his mind around it."

"Give him time," he said. "He'll get used to the idea. I'm sure of it… How'd Eric take it?"

"A lot better than his father," Lynn answered. "But I think he's too worried to care right now."

"I hadn't talked to him in a few days," Andros said. "Is he okay?"

"Ashley's fingers moved a little the other day and he's been sitting with her ever since," she said with a sigh.

Andros took in a breath. "She moved?" he asked, hoping that he could hide the excitement in his voice. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"She's still in a coma, Andros," Lynn explained softly. "I didn't want to give you any false hope. The doctors said that it was nothing, so we've been treating it like it's nothing… except Eric. That's why he's at the hospital with her now. He took it as a sign that she was waking up. But it really was nothing, Andros. And that's the only reason that you didn't already know."

"I'm sorry," Andros said, lowering his eyes. "I didn't mean to –"

"It's okay," she said, quickly cutting him off. "But I won't keep anything else from you anymore, okay?"

"It's fine if you don't tell me every detail," he said. "I mean, I'm not related to her. I didn't date her or anything… You don't have a reason to tell me anything about yourself or Ashley. I just –"

"Andros, I said that it's okay," Lynn said, interrupting him again. "Now, Doug said that he might give you a call later on today, but you're going to be on another planet, right?"

"In about ten minutes," he confirmed. "But if he wants to call in a few hours, we should be done by then."

"Good. Then we'll talk to you later," she said. "Bye, rangers."

"Bye," all ten rangers responded at the same time before they heard the light click of Mrs. Hammond hanging up the phone.

"You know, I'd never heard you bring it up before today," Carlos began. "But why do Mr. and Mrs. Hammond call you every day like this?"

Andros shrugged. "Pity, probably," he answered. "They felt sorry for me because I blamed myself for what happened to Ashley. I guess it's actually not a bad way to make new friends, but I can't keep them unless I eventually lose the pity."

Carlos nodded, not able to help looking a little impressed at Andros' insight. It was becoming a regular thing though, now that Zhane no longer offered a life lesson to Andros every other day. As it turned out, Andros knew quite a bit without being lectured and insisted on taking the time to point out that he had learned something every time that he was around Zhane.

"How long before we head to Inquiris?" Kim asked Zhane somewhat excitedly.

"We're within orbit," Zhane said. "We can teleport now if everyone's ready."

The rangers nodded and headed away from the bridge, except Zhane who stopped Andros with a light hand on the shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Andros asked, surprised that Zhane was actually looking him in the eye.

Zhane sighed. "Truce, okay?" he said, folding his arms. "Dimitria will be able to sense any kind of rift between us and I don't want to drag that with us to Inquiris."

"Okay," Andros agreed. "But I was never mad at you and you've been telling me for weeks that you weren't mad at me, so I didn't know that we needed a truce."

"Of course you didn't," Zhane replied, rolling his eyes.

"I'm still not sure why you're so mad," he said. "It's been a few weeks now without you talking to me like you used to or even looking at me."

Zhane lowered his eyes a little. "I've looked at you," he said. "I've noticed quite a bit about you lately. Ever since you started talking to the Hammonds, you've been… different. You've actually been making attempts to hang out with everyone. It's good that you've come that far and I've definitely noticed."

"But…?"

"No 'buts'," Zhane replied. "I told you before that you'd get no more lessons and lectures from me. I just wanted to talk for a minute since I hadn't done that in a while. We can catch up with the others now."

Andros watched as Zhane walked to the Megalift and slowly followed. "Thanks," he said just before the doors opened and they joined the rangers in the cargo bay.

Zhane nodded in response and gave the word for DECA to teleport him and the rangers to the surface of the planet Inquiris.

The rangers looked around in awe, surprised to see the bright blue sky and green grass that seemed so similar to Earth. They were often surprised to know that there were so few differences between other planets and Earth, though they knew how many humans were scattered across the universe that required the same basic things as all others.

But they were most impressed at the large, white, stone temple in front of them, surrounded on all sides by what appeared to be guards that did not part from the door until Zhane addressed himself and the others as Power Rangers. He, Andros, and the other Astrorangers led the others through the temple, which seemed to expand as they traveled from one room to another. After a moment, the Veo Tech Rangers stopped in their tracks, catching the attention of the other rangers.

"What's wrong?" Zhane asked as he and the others slowed to a stop as well.

"Are we going in circles?" Tommy asked, glancing around at the room that he was certain they had passed moments earlier.

"No," Andros answered, shaking his head. "This is the primary Inquiris temple. Inquiris as in 'inquire', as in 'question'… "

"What does that have to do with being lost in here?" Kim asked.

"It's a puzzle," Zhane explained. "We've actually been walking in a straight line for the past ten minutes or so… This whole place is a series of questions with no answers, just like Dimitria sometimes."

"Yeah," Cassie agreed. "When we were here last, we walked in a circle and ended up in a room that we hadn't seen before. The rooms defy logic so that there are always questions to be asked. There's a way out of here when one of Dimitria's attendants finds us and lead us to the white room."

"This place gets whiter?" Adam asked, glancing around.

"Well, we have to," Carlos replied. "We have to change into white clothes before we go before Dimitria."

"We never had to do that on Earth," Tommy pointed out.

"Different planet, different rules," T.J. said with a shrug. "I'm sure that Dimitria would admire our courage and natural instincts to question it, but it's probably best not to risk making her mad."

The rangers began walking again, finally coming upon two people standing outside of a large white door.

"Greetings, Power Rangers," the female said, bowing her head to them. "It has been a while for some of you. For the others, it is your first time here, correct?"

"We're glad to be here," Tommy said, speaking for the others as they nodded. "Dimitria was an important part of our lives as rangers."

The male nodded. "She always spoke highly of her Earth rangers," he said, making Zhane glance at Andros. But Andros showed no signs of jealousy or even annoyance at the statement and Zhane found himself impressed once again at his friend's growth as an adult.

"You will find your required clothing within these doors," the male continued, pulling open the large white door. "Just slip them over your regular clothes… When you are all ready, open this door and Dimitria will see you."

The rangers all stepped inside the room, the door closing behind them with a soft click. Not surprisingly, there were small dressing rooms for each of them, with the thin, white clothing on a shelf on its outside. Once they were dressed, they stood in front of the large door again, pushing it back open to find themselves in a completely different room.

"Rangers, I take it that your journey to Kor'es went well?" a familiar voice asked as the rangers walked through a small sea of people.

"Dimitria," Tommy said softly, trying to recall the last time he had seen her. It was the day that he and the others passed along the Turbo Ranger powers and, as he had expected, she was exactly the same as he remembered.

"We never made it to Kor'es," T.J. explained. "We've been looking for the Ka'ana Veo shards. When we went back to Earth, Tommy had found the Veo morphers. Once we found out the connection between the morpher and the shards, we've been helping the Veo Tech Rangers find the shards."

"But we've reached a dead end, Dimitria," Adam interjected. "And we could really use your help."

"You believe that you need my help?" Dimitria asked. "Would it surprise you to know that I have already given you help?"

"Kor'es?" Cassie guessed. "You said that there was a power source there, but we figured that you meant the Veo morphers."

"If you found the Veo morphers on Earth, what reason did you have to believe that the power source I mentioned was the Veo power?" Dimitria asked kindly.

"Well, no reason I guess," Cassie replied. "But what _is_ the power there?"

"Do you wish to piece together the Veo Prism?" Dimitria asked.

"Of course," Zhane said. "We'll set a course for Kor'es as soon as we return to the Megaship."

"Is there anything else that you would like to ask?" she asked.

"Well, we've been following Astronema mostly," Tommy began, taking a step forward. "If Kor'es is connected to the shards, is it possible that she already has the power source that you're sending us after?"

"Do you not trust in the power's ability to keep itself hidden from evil at all costs?" she asked in response.

"Then, how will we find it?" Kim asked. "I mean, if it can hide its power from villains then won't it hide itself from us too?"

"The Veo morphers, hidden for years from the likes of Dark Specter –were you not able to find them before even him?" Dimitria asked, receiving nods from the rangers.

"Dimitria," Zhane began, lowering his eyes a bit. "There was something else that I wanted to mention to you. I'm not even sure that you can do anything about this or not. But a few weeks ago, Ashley was hurt and now we're not only missing a friend, but… we're missing a key part of one of our most powerful weapons and we were wondering –."

"What are you doing?" Andros hissed at him, looking to Dimitria when Zhane frowned at him for interrupting.

"Do you wish for one of the Inquirian warriors to join you on your journey as the Yellow Astroranger?" she asked them.

"No," Andros exclaimed. "We're not replacing Ashley."

Zhane let out a sigh. "Andros, don't you think we need –"

"We aren't replacing Ashley," Andros said firmly. "We're fine without the Quadroblaster. We'll find a way to use it without the Star Slinger. But the morpher belongs to Ashley."

Zhane glared at Andros, narrowing his eyes at him as he came to a realization. "You didn't take the morpher back, did you?" he asked Andros.

"It hasn't been that long, Zhane," Andros pointed out. "I didn't think that you'd try to replace her, though I guess I probably should have."

Zhane opened his mouth to protest further, but he just closed his eyes and sighed again. "Dimitria, thank you for your offer, but I guess we'll be okay without a Yellow Astroranger for a while."

"Then, I trust that you will all have a safe journey?" Dimitria asked.

"You don't even have to ask," Zhane replied as he and the others were teleported from the white temple room back to the Astro Megaship.

"Whoa," Aisha said, looking around to see that they were on the bridge. But everyone else's eyes were on Andros and Zhane, wondering how they would handle the situation that they nearly had in front of Dimitria. "So… Kor'es, huh?" she asked, filling the silence.

But no one dared respond to her as Zhane slowly walked up to Andros with his arms folded and the same frown on his face that had been there moments earlier. Andros stared him down as Zhane got closer to him, more upset about the only break in his calm demeanor that he had experienced in the past few weeks.

"I thought we had agreed to a truce," Zhane said as calmly as he was able.

"We had," Andros replied. "But I thought that we were looking into alternatives to the Quadroblaster and to replacing our friend."

"We were," Zhane said. "And for the record, I never once suggested replacing Ashley. I know that she can't be replaced. But a substitute would have been nice for a while."

"A substitute?" Andros scoffed. "Is that what you're honestly telling yourself? Anyone that puts on an Astromorpher is more than a substitute. They become a part of our team and then… then…"

"Then, what?" Zhane nearly shouted.

"Then, Ashley won't be part of the team anymore," he exclaimed. "Look, Ashley will wake up and she'll be back before we know it. There's no reason to give her morpher to anyone else."

"We _can't_," Zhane replied. "The morpher is on Earth with her, so we couldn't give the morpher to anyone if we wanted to."

Andros glanced around at the others, almost certain that they were thinking that he was an idiot. Not just an idiot, but the same idiot whose leadership they had stripped away not too long ago –the same idiot that had supposedly changed for the better.

"I like her," Andros said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I like Ashley, Zhane… I don't know how she felt about me and I don't care right now. All I want is for her to wake up and be okay. I want her to wake up, look down at her morpher, and know that her friends never gave up on her getting better. I want her to see it and know that we're coming back for her. I want her to know that we care about her, that we… love her."

Zhane looked carefully into Andros' eyes. "You like Ashley?" he asked, receiving a nod from Andros. "Like her in the way she liked you? That kind of like?"

"Yeah," Andros admitted. "I thought I wanted her to get better so that I could get rid of the guilt that I'm carrying around by telling her that I'm sorry. But I know now that what I'm feeling for her is real, not something that I forced on myself. I really do like her and I'd appreciate it if we could wait a while longer before we consider an alternate."

He was telling the truth, Zhane determined, knowing that Andros could not maintain eye contact when he was lying. Andros liked Ashley, after all. And he was risking his vulnerability by saying it aloud in front of the others, especially when he was not sure of how Ashley might respond.

"It's fine with me," Zhane finally said. "No alternate for another month. But after that…"

"After that, I'll go to Earth myself and get the morpher," Andros said. "Promise."

"I'll hold you to that," Zhane said, holding out his hand to shake Andros' to signify his apology and another truce. "We're still okay?"

"Only if you let me say it this time," Andros replied, shaking his hand.

"Go for it," Zhane said with a small smile.

"DECA, set a course for Kor'es," Andros said, not bothering to look up at her camera as he enjoyed the only real smile that Zhane had given him in weeks.


	18. Chapter 18

Ch 18

Andros was lonelier than usual today.

It was not as if he were actually alone. He almost never was now, trying to make a bigger name for himself around the Megaship than the 'anti-social ranger'. But he seemed to be feigning happiness today for some reason. It was not as though he were not having fun. He and the other rangers were spending time on the Simudeck, enjoying another two and a half weeks of no attacks from Astronema or her monsters.

They had agreed on a beach setting, suggested by the homesick Veo Tech Rangers, who all seemed excited about teaching Andros and Zhane how to surf. Even Andros was genuinely interested in trying it, but he found it difficult to have any real fun. And after a couple of hours of surfing and sand castle contests, they had all began to wind down a bit. Most of the guys had began a Frisbee game, except Tommy and Kim, who sat by the simulated ocean waiting for the tide to come in and soak them from the waist up. Cassie and Zhane had chosen a shaded spot on the beach away from the game, where they sat looking into each other's eyes as they held hands.

And Andros sat nearby, turned away from the couples and trying to focus on watching the Frisbee game. But it was hard to stay happy as he sat there, no longer wanting to play the game or look at the kissing couples.

He wondered if he might have been a little jealous though, not being able to be with either of the women that he liked. He had already talked to Ashley's parents that morning, which only made him miss Ashley more as it usually did, especially when no news of her getting better had been reported. And so he felt lonely today.

"Hey," Andros heard as a pair of sandaled feet approached him suddenly.

"Hey," Andros said as Cassie sat down beside him.

"Everything okay?" she asked, trying to read his expression.

Andros nodded. "I was just thinking," he said, glancing over at the Frisbee game again and seeing that Zhane had joined in.

"About Ashley?" Cassie guessed, sighing when Andros nodded. "You're really missing her, aren't you?"

"More than I thought I would," Andros answered. "And I keep dreaming about her."

"And what about Arcadia?" Cassie asked, lowering her eyes as Andros looked away from her. "You _still_ like them both?"

"I almost married Arcadia," Andros began softly. "But she's not around anymore and I'm starting to accept that finally… I think."

"Then why do you still carry around that envelope?"

Andros reached into the pocket of his swim shorts and pulled out the worn envelope with his name on it and looked at it a moment before holding it out to Cassie.

"Here," he said as she took it from his hand. "You hold onto it for a while."

"I didn't mean that you _shouldn't_ carry it around," she said after a moment, shaking her head and handing the envelope back to him.

"Then, what did you mean?"

Cassie shrugged. "It can't make you feel good to always have it with you anymore," she said. "I know that it's part of your past, but doesn't it make it harder for you to get over Arcadia?"

"Sometimes," he replied, looking down at it again before putting it back into his pocket. "But I haven't really thought about Arcadia that much. When I dream, it's usually about Ashley. And when Arcadia's there, she's trying to get me together with Ashley."

"Did you talk to the Hammonds today?" she asked, hoping to change the subject a little as he continued to look sad.

He nodded. "Still no change," he said. "She hasn't moved or done anything that might indicate that she'll make a full recovery. But I'm sure she'll wake up soon… In fact, I know she will."

"I wish I had your confidence about that," Cassie replied. "Zhane's been saying the same thing, but I figured it was just to make me feel better."

"That sounds like him," he said wistfully.

"He misses you too," Cassie said.

"Does he?"

"Of course he does," she answered with a smile. "Who wouldn't miss talking with their best friend every day? And I know that he wishes that he'd never pushed you away, but he thinks that it may have changed you for the better."

"Me too," Andros agreed. "But he doesn't want to talk –"

"He does," Cassie said quickly. "Promise me that you'll talk to him soon. He really isn't the same without you around. When you guys go a day without talking to each other, you're all he wants to talk _about_. He worries about you a lot, especially with Ashley not being back yet."

"I'll talk to him," Andros said. "But in the meantime, you can tell him not to worry about me."

"I will," she said, looking down at her feet for a moment. "Andros, do you consider us… friends?"

"I'd like to think so," he replied. "Do you?"

"Yeah, it's just… I think I should tell you something before we can know for sure if we can be friends."

"What?" Andros asked.

Cassie turned to him. "When you were hurt on Onyx, the second time, Zhane left you in the room with me for a while," she began. "Do you remember that?"

"I don't think I'll ever forget," Andros replied. "It was a pretty bad couple of days for me."

"Well, when he left you with me, I was still angry about what happened to Ashley," she said. "And I…"

Andros held up his hand to stop her words. "It's fine, Cassie," he said. "You don't have to say it. I can pretty much guess what you did and it isn't an issue anymore. It's in the past, right?"

"Right," she said hesitantly. "But I _am_ sorry about that."

"It's not the worst thing that's ever happened to me," he said. "And I think that I probably deserved a lot worse than that after what I did."

"I still shouldn't have done it," she said. "So if you feel like you can't call us friends, then…"

"Cassie, we're friends as long as you say we're friends," Andros said assuredly, smiling a little.

Cassie smiled back. "Then, we're friends," she affirmed with a sigh, nudging him playfully with her elbow before getting to her feet when she began to feel uncomfortable with the nice moment between them.

Andros watched as Cassie headed over to the Frisbee game and intercepted the disc as it glided toward Zhane, who playfully picked her up as she tossed the disc to Tommy on the opposing team. Andros smiled a little more as he watched them, at least glad that Zhane was happy in spite of his own loss a year ago. It was pretty obvious that his relationship with Cassie was getting more and more serious and Andros was happy to see Zhane moving on. Now if only he could do the same...

"Attention, rangers," DECA announced suddenly over the sounds of the ocean, stopping the rangers' game. "We are now approaching Kor'es. The Dark Fortress has been sited within the planet's orbit as well."

"Stop simulation," Zhane called out, sighing as the beach scenery disappeared to reveal the gray walls of the Simudeck again. "Should've figured that Astronema would get here first."

"So, then there probably _is_ a shard here," Kim said. "Do you think we're too late?"

"There's only one way to find out," Tommy replied, receiving a nod from Zhane. "Let's go guys."

The rangers teleported, glad that they had morphed as they landed on the surface of Kor'es, finding only dirt and sand. There were no trees or bright blue skies, just more brown dirt and more sand. And it was just as eerily calm as Onyx had been when the rangers had first arrived. The planet seemed completely deserted, showing little to no signs of life as the rangers cautiously looked around for anything that might jump out at them. And as exposed as they all were now, anything could surprise them at any moment.

"Should we start with the sensor?" Andros asked Zhane when no signs of Astronema or her monsters were found.

Zhane nodded. "I guess the coast is clear," he replied, turning to Tommy. "Let's test this thing out."

"Right," Tommy said, taking out a small flat disc-shaped device along with the other Veo Tech Rangers.

"So, if something glows, that means that there's a shard nearby?" Carlos verified.

"That's the theory," Zhane answered as the rangers turned on the detectors. "It should let us know if a shard is within a few meters of where we are, whether it's under or above the ground."

The rangers split into two groups and walked in five separate directions, hoping to continue to avoid running into Astronema. Andros followed closely behind Kim, his eyes fixed on the detector as they walked slowly away from the other rangers in search of a shard.

"We're getting close, aren't we?" Kim asked after a moment.

"To a shard?" Andros asked, studying the screen of the device in Kim's hand. "I don't see anything."

"Not close to a shard," Kim said, turning to him. "It's almost time, isn't it?"

"Oh," Andros said softly. "Yeah… Two more weeks will be another month. And then, I guess we'll be heading back to Earth to get the Astromorpher."

"I'm sorry," Kim said, looking back to the device and unsure of why she had even bothered to bring it up. She knew that it was a sore subject for him, but she also figured that he was probably constantly thinking about it anyway, having already spoken to the Hammonds earlier in the day.

"She'll wake up," Andros replied, stopping in his tracks as Kim did the same. "So, you don't have to apologize… And _why_ does everyone keeps apologizing? Ashley will be okay… I keep telling everyone that and they keep saying that they're sorry every day that she doesn't wake up. But I know that she'll be fine. The doctors on Earth determined that there probably wasn't enough brain damage for her to be out for very long. So, I _know_ that she'll be okay."

"But there _was_ damage done," Kim pointed out gently. "There was enough damage to her brain to result in a coma, Andros. So I have to ask you how it is that you are so sure that she'll wake up soon? It's already been almost two months and I have as much hope for her recovery as everyone else, but… it's been _two_ _months_. How can you be so sure?"

Andros shook his head to himself. "I'm not," he exclaimed. "I'm not sure of anything. I want Ashley to wake up because I like her, so I try to have faith that she'll be okay soon. But I _need_ her to be okay too. I need her to be okay because if she's not… If she's not, I don't know what I'll do. It's my fault that she was hurt in the first place, so if she never wakes up, then that means that I… I killed her."

"She won't be dead, Andros," Kim assured him.

"But it'll feel like it to her," Andros said, starting to walk again as he felt tears stinging his eyes. "For the rest of her life, she may never speak or walk or even be able to open her eyes… because of _me_. And if that happens, I really don't know how I'm going to be able to…"

"Are you in love with her?" Kim asked when Andros trailed off and said nothing else for a while.

"Somehow, I think I am," he answered truthfully. "And maybe I always was… But that won't matter if I can't ever tell her to her face."

"You will," Kim said distractedly, leading the way again as something ahead of them began to glow bright blue.

Andros saw it suddenly and walked toward it, eventually reaching the apex of a hill and looking down, finding Astronema and Darkonda waiting at the bottom. The ground under them glowed blue in response to the Veo Prism shard and the detector, but neither of the two seemed to notice it or the rangers a few feet away.

"I already contacted the others," Kim said, coming up behind him and lowering her voice when she saw Astronema and the monster. "I guess that means no shard for us then."

"So, they were working together all along," Zhane said, appearing suddenly beside them.

"Looks like it," T.J. said. "But how did Darkonda survive? I thought he was destroyed."

"There's no telling how he managed to come back," Andros replied, shaking his head. "But if he's still around, then Mirit and Tsukon probably are too."

"Not good," Aisha said. "If they weren't destroyed, and they aren't down there with Darkonda, then they might be close by."

"Exactly," Tommy said. "So then how long should we stand here before we join the party?"

Just then, a blast came from over the rangers' heads from where Astronema and Darkonda stood and the rangers looked down at them, not surprised to see the duo looking back up at them.

"Why don't you join us, rangers?" Darkonda asked with a laugh. "The more, the merrier."

Darkonda threw out another blast at them, but the rangers reached for their morphers and teleported away from the blast, reappearing at the bottom of the hill with their blasters raised at both Astronema and Darkonda.

"We're only here for one reason," Zhane said, keeping his eyes fixed on Darkonda as he steadied his weapon. "You tell us what we want to know and we'll leave you alone."

"You know, I recall a similar conversation to this one on Onyx not too long ago," Darkonda replied, turning his head to Andros, whose blaster was pointed at his forehead. "And as I remember, things didn't work out so well. Did it, Red Ranger?"

Andros gripped his weapon harder, but remained calm and said nothing even as his hand began to shake at the memory of Onyx.

"If you're looking for the Veo Prism shards, you're too late," Astronema said with a smile. "I already have them. In fact, I happen to have all of the shards with me right now."

"Then, you'd do well to hand them over," Zhane said.

"Or what?" Astronema replied, daring to take a step toward him. "You'll destroy me? I highly doubt it. I'm human, and you're still Power Rangers, aren't you?"

The rangers glanced at one another, knowing that their threat was futile as long as Astronema's claim was true. They would probably never be able to destroy her as long as she was human. But the rangers held their weapons steady and turned their attention back to her and Darkonda.

"Well, _he's_ definitely not human," Andros said, fighting the urge to pull the trigger.

"No," Astronema said with a sigh. "He isn't."

She disappeared suddenly from the circle of rangers and reappeared just behind them, her staff aimed at them.

"Move," she growled, staring at Darkonda, who also teleported from within the rangers' circle to an area just outside of it, his laughter echoing as he made his way to Astronema.

"You rangers always insist on doing things the hard way," he said, shaking his head. "Why must it always fall on me to teach you a lesson?"

He stopped just in front of Astronema and faced the rangers again, raising his sword as they pointed their blasters at him. Finally, he rushed at them, stopping in his tracks as he was suddenly blasted from behind. Unable to turn to see his attacker, Darkonda only fell forward and exploded, destroyed once again. And when the smoke cleared, Astronema lowered her weapon and walked past the remnants of Darkonda, kicking a few out of her path.

"What was that?" Zhane asked.

"_That_ was me helping you," she replied.

"Why?" Adam asked.

"Because it's time we worked together, rangers," she said, crossing her arms. "And I know you're all about that teamwork and togetherness stuff."

"Not with you," Tommy said. "You've been attacking us since we started looking for the shards. Now you want to work together? You _must_ want something."

"That's right," she answered simply. "The truth of the matter is that you need my help as much as I need yours."

"Actually, we don't," Cassie shot back. "You're the one with most of the shards anyway. If you need us, it's only to get the shard _we_ have so you can use the Veo Prism to destroy the universe."

"Well, yes," Astronema admitted. "I _do_ need your shard, but _not_ to destroy the universe."

Again, the rangers exchanged glances.

"Then, give us your shards," T.J. said. "You already know that we won't use them for anything evil and since we can't trust you _not_ to…"

"The deal doesn't work that way," she said.

"Then, what _is_ the deal?" Andros asked.

"One time offer," Astronema began, looking from ranger to ranger. "I join you on your quest to find more shards –on the Astro Megaship. Once we have the remaining shards, I leave."

"Yeah, with _our_ shards and probably our ship too," Carlos said, folding his arms. "No deal."

"I don't think that decision is solely yours, Black Ranger."

Andros lowered his eyes when Astronema looked to him. "It isn't mine either," he said in a low voice.

"Why should we trust you?" Zhane asked after a moment, studying Astronema's face carefully as she began to speak.

"You can't," she replied honestly. "The only thing that will change is that I won't attack you as long as you don't attack me. Once we find the rest of the Veo Prism, everything goes back to normal. But you have my word that I won't attack you until the Veo Prism is complete."

"And what is your word worth exactly?" Kim asked.

"If you don't believe me, then… it's worth absolutely nothing," Astronema answered. "But you don't have the luxury of thinking about this for much longer. Once I leave this planet, the offer expires and we go back to the way things are now. We'll keep running around the rest of the universe looking for shards until the end of time. Or… you can accept my help and work with me on this."

"If we do this," Andros began. "You understand that we'd never really trust you and that we'd need a… well, for our own peace of mind, we'd have you under constant surveillance and we might even have to restrain you."

Astronema thought to herself a moment before nodding. "And if it'll help, I'll leave my staff behind, right here, just in case."

"You're willing to do all of that?" Tommy asked.

"Yes," Astronema replied quickly.

Tommy and Zhane glanced at one another once more before Zhane finally sighed. "We won't have a room for you, so you'll have to sleep in the cargo bay," he said, shaking his head.

Astronema let out a breath and lowered her staff into the sandy earth that seemed to swallow it up quickly in a cloud of dust. But when the dirt settled, the staff lay there, looking as though it had always been on the ground. Astronema glanced down at it once, but said nothing further, smirking a little as Zhane ordered DECA to teleport them all to the Astro Megaship. She knew that every ranger was looking her way, even without being able to see their faces, silently cursing and hating her.

And she liked it just fine.


	19. Chapter 19

Ch 19

Astronema had been on the ship for over an hour now and the other rangers had already grown sick of her. It was bad enough that she was on the Megaship at all, but worse than that, she was already trying to bark orders at the rangers. All they could do in response was sigh and shake their heads as they reluctantly complied with her requests. After all, the only thing that she had asked was to speak with Wan on Bromak-7. But the manner that she had chosen to ask the rangers left much to be desired.

It was strange that in less than an hour, she had managed to get under their skin already, but they were not surprised either. She _was_ Astronema, Princess of Evil, and she made certain that everyone around her knew it through actions or words. So when Wan appeared on the main viewing screen, he was just as bothered when she stood facing him, the rangers behind her with their eyes lowered.

Wan narrowed his eyes at Astronema as she smiled a little. "You captured the rangers?" he asked, glancing over her shoulder briefly. "How?"

"We haven't been captured," Andros assured him, taking a step forward. "She wanted our help."

"Your _help_?" Wan asked. "You're actually helping her? You _do_ remember who she is, don't you?"

"Wan, is it?" Astronema asked, wishing that she had her staff in her hand to appear more menacing. Wan obviously was not afraid of her, even in his current appearance as a child. Her staff would at least pose a threat of some kind. "We don't have time to play games. Tell me about the Ka'ana Veo shards."

Wan glared at her. "I already told the rangers everything that I could tell them," he said. "I have nothing more to tell them or you."

"We both know that isn't true," Astronema said slyly. "You've asked the rangers what _they_ planned to do with the shards, so why don't you tell them what _you_ did with them?"

"Andros," Wan said. "If she continues to speak, this conversation is over. And why is she on your ship? You guys are still good, right?"

Andros sighed and opened his mouth to explain, but the words would not come. He thought that he was okay with not being the leader anymore, but he obviously was not quite there yet. And he wondered how to explain to Wan that it had not been his decision to bring Astronema aboard and that he no longer had the authority to make those kinds of decisions anymore. At least, he could not think of a way to say it without sounding bitter.

"I was the one who brought her aboard," Zhane said, stepping forward and nudging Astronema out of Wan's line of sight. "We contacted you because we're at a dead end again and the only location that Dimitria gave us was Kor'es. So, anything that you can tell us, anything at all, would help us out a lot."

Wan lowered his eyes. "_She_ already knows," he said. "You trust her enough to bring her onto your ship, but you don't trust her to be honest about what I did?"

"_You_ were there," Zhane said firmly. "She wasn't… Now, we've been patient enough. Tell us."

Wan sighed softly, glancing over at Andros briefly before beginning. "Several years ago, I and four other humans were given the sole task of guarding the Veo Prism as the Veo Tech Rangers. When we found out how powerful the prism was and how it could be used, it became too big a temptation for any of us to resist. But I was the first to give in."

"What did it do?" Zhane asked.

"It allows the user to alter the past," Wan explained. "All I wanted to do was change one thing. I figured that I could make the universe better than it was. In the time that I was a ranger, most of the universe had been taken over by Rita Repulsa. In fact, she had ruled over the universe for several thousand years."

"Rita never ruled the universe," Andros said. "She was defeated by the Power Rangers before she could cause any serious damage."

"_After_ I changed things," Wan replied. "The first time around, she had taken over almost everything and had forced Zordon to surrender on Earth. Many of the human warriors that had been chosen to fight with him had fallen. He didn't have as much power then and there were no Power Rangers until much later. Even in my time, our powers paled to what yours are now."

"What did you change?" Zhane asked.

"I went back to the day that Zordon surrendered," Wan continued. "In that reality, the Veo Prism did not exist and the one that I had brought back with me no longer worked. But I fought alongside Zordon and, in the process of trying to find a bigger power source, I thought of something. My powers came from _him_ –all ranger powers did. I tried to find a way to concentrate my power into him, but… something else happened."

The rangers leaned forward expectantly and waited for a further explanation.

"When I focused my power, it didn't go into Zordon," Wan said quietly, as he recalled the incident. "Somehow, it created a glow that we followed to a remote spot on the planet. We found a small case with five coins. Zordon had mentioned that he had come across them several days earlier, but that they were nothing special. Now, they glowed from the power that I had given up and so he called them –"

"The Power Coins," Tommy said aloud.

"The very same," Wan said with a nod. "So, I and four other humans took the coins, becoming the first of many generations of Power Rangers. But after the first battle, I was thrown back into my own time again, perhaps after reawakening the power of the Veo Prism. Back in my time, I found that Zordon and the rangers had won and had sealed Rita into a dumpster. Zordon still lost his corporeal body to Rita's tricks, but I had still changed things… and not necessarily for the better. Sure, we were free now but there was something else. Before Rita was sealed away, she channeled her own energy into a monster that she had recently created, tripling what strength and power it already had."

Wan stopped speaking and lowered his eyes as he let out another sigh. And in his current physical appearance, he looked much sadder than Andros had ever seen him.

"What happened, Wan?" Andros urged.

"The monster was more powerful than any of us could have ever imagined," Wan began again. "But it was as though we had been fighting him for years. He was nearly indestructible but he hadn't taken over the universe yet. He had even given up on Earth, deciding that it was not a worthwhile prospect at the time. He had instead spent thousands of years building up his power, rising above every villain, and creating fear of him in all of them."

"Dark Specter," Astronema said almost proudly.

"It wasn't until later that I realized that _I_ was changing," Wan continued on. "I noticed one morning that I had the look and mannerisms of a four year old and that's when I knew for sure… I was being punished for changing the past. The next day, I was older than I was supposed to be. And that's when I decided to leave my friends. They disbanded not much longer after that and by then I had exiled myself to Bromak-7. That's why I'm not certain of the location of the shards."

"Ironic, isn't it?" Astronema said with a smile. "You rangers exist because one of your own led to the creation of the most evil and powerful being in the universe."

"She spoke again," Wan said, not bothering to hide his frustration.

"Why didn't you want to tell us?" Zhane asked.

"Well, it's a little embarrassing to admit that I'm the reason that our archenemy exists," Wan answered. "Not many people know that anything changed at all. When reality altered, no one except me and Zordon were left with the original memories. Anyone else who knows was told by either him or me."

"Is there anything else that you can tell us?" T.J. asked.

"I don't know anything about what happened to the shards," Wan replied with a shrug. "All I know is that they brought a shard to me and asked me to keep it safe… and I couldn't even do that."

"Yes, you did," Andros assured him. "You protected it with your life for years. You kept it as safe as you could."

"I'm just sorry that it had to come to this," Wan sighed. "I suppose that I should have told you all this long ago… So, I'll give you the only real lead that I have –Kayn. Other than myself, Kayn is the last of the original Veo Tech Rangers. I'm not sure of his location now, but he's likely near his home planet of Juniya."

"Thanks," Andros said, glancing back at the rest of the Astrorangers, who scrambled to their stations to begin a search.

Wan glanced behind Andros and Zhane to the newest set of Veo Tech Rangers before letting out another sigh and disappearing from the screen.

"That wasn't much help at all," Astronema said, looking over Cassie's shoulder to see the information on the small screen in front of her, moving back a little when Cassie glanced back at her and sighed heavily. "And this team needs work. I'd bet that almost none of you knows how to even begin searching for Kayn."

"Well, feel free to make yourself useful," Zhane said, sitting down at the center station and beginning to type something into the keyboard in front of him.

Astronema shot him a look, though she knew he would not notice. "Before you do too much research, maybe we should see how much we have of the Veo Prism," she said. "Looking for this Kayn person may be unnecessary. We need to combine the shards."

"You expect us to believe that we can combine the shards and you won't take them from us?" Carlos scoffed.

"I won't, if you won't," Astronema said. "Even if we have the whole prism, I wouldn't use it. Your little friend Wan is enough of an example to convince me not to tempt the fates by messing with the flow of time. If this is going to work, you're going to have to start trusting me."

"As far as I know, we _can't_ trust you," Zhane replied, now turning to her. "And I trust you less and less with every passing minute. You haven't given us any reason to trust you."

"Leaving my staff on Kor'es wasn't enough of a sacrifice for you?" she asked, beginning to grow angry as the two continued to stare one another down.

"Abandoning your staff doesn't mean anything to me because I know what you can do without it," Zhane said. "If you want us to help you, you'll remember that you're on _our_ ship and that you don't have to be here."

"Zhane," Andros said quickly before Zhane could say anything else. "She's here for a reason… and we need to know how much we have combined. Let's just have DECA scan the shards that Astronema has and the one that we have. Then, we'll know how much of the prism we have without anyone having to give up any shards."

Zhane lowered his eyes and nodded in agreement, pulling the shard out of his jacket pocket with a sigh and holding it up high enough to allow DECA to scan it with her camera.

"Scanning complete," DECA announced.

Astronema continued to glare at Zhane as she closed her hand and slowly opened it again, the four shards appearing in it as she raised her arm to allow DECA to scan them.

"Scanning complete," DECA said again, causing a few consoles to beep before continuing. "Approximately eighty-seven percent of the Veo Prism has been collected."

"That's more than I would have thought," Cassie said, glancing up from her the screen at her station and looked back at Zhane, not surprised to see that he did not look surprised.

"Now we know that finding Kayn is necessary," Zhane said, turning from Astronema again and going back to his station.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Astronema asked. "If you expect me to –"

"We don't expect you to do anything," Zhane snapped back. "In fact, the bridge is getting a little crowded and you're not really needed here at the moment. Andros, can you take her to her room, please?"

Andros glanced over at Astronema, who only scoffed and stormed off the bridge. "Sure," Andros said, following behind her when the other rangers rolled their eyes at her exit.

"Is there anything that we should do?" Tommy asked, walking over to Zhane's station and trying to make sense of all the information that scrolled by on the tiny screen in front of him.

"Nothing that I can think of," Zhane answered, looking up at him in time to see Tommy's face fall a little. "But I'm curious to know what you guys make of all this."

The Veo Tech Rangers exchanged glances briefly.

"It's kind of strange," Adam began first, running his fingers through his hair. "I mean, to know that everything that we've been through as rangers might not have happened based on the outcome of one battle… it's just…"

"Yeah," Kim agreed. "It kind of makes me wonder what kind of future the old reality would have created for us. Would we have been rangers? Would our personalities have been different?"

"Maybe we wouldn't have had a future at all," Aisha said. "I mean, things were so bad that even the Power Rangers couldn't defeat Rita. I almost hope that we wouldn't have existed at all in that reality."

"Well, it's that kind of talk that probably made Wan use the Veo Prism in the first place," Tommy said. "Maybe we shouldn't think about those things so much. It's certainly not going to do us any good talking about what could have been or never was."

"So, are we really going to destroy it?" Rocky asked after a moment, causing all the rangers to turn to him.

"Of course, we are," T.J. answered. "Why would we risk keeping it around?"

"It's just… after we find it and put it together, what happens to us?" Rocky asked, hoping that he did not sound as pathetic as he felt.

"Nothing happens, I guess," Zhane replied with a shrug. "What's supposed to happen?"

"He means _us_," Tommy said after an uncomfortable moment of silence. "You'll have the Astromorphers, but what happens to us? If the Veo Prism's destroyed, then won't our powers go with it?"

"I …wouldn't worry about it," Zhane said, unsure of how else to reassure them. He had not considered the futures of the Veo Tech Rangers once their journey was over. He wondered if Andros might have been able to think of something reassuring to say to them. Andros had been becoming better and better at doing that recently.

"Guys, we don't even know if it's possible to completely destroy the Veo Prism," Cassie said when Zhane said nothing else and turned back to his work. "And your powers work fine with the pieces being scattered throughout the universe, so you may not lose your powers at all. Now, we could really use your help searching for this Kayn person."

Tommy and the others slowly made their way to the stations, not able to do much more than look over the shoulders of the Astrorangers, but trying not to seem too out of place.

Cassie glanced over at Zhane, who sighed softly to himself, noticeably troubled as he looked back at her. But as quickly as Cassie would have liked to pull him aside and reassure him too, his look also told her that they would be talking later. So, Cassie settled for a reassuring smile instead, receiving a half-smile from Zhane before he went back to his work.

-0_0_0-

"You're really not in charge anymore, are you?" Astronema asked Andros for the second time in the past few minutes.

Andros had successfully avoided answering her question the first time she had asked, deciding to say nothing to her rather than entertain her with even a slight showing of frustration. But now he could not help letting out a sigh as he struggled to maintain his calm.

"The Silver Ranger has always led the Astrorangers," he said simply, already knowing how she would likely respond.

"I seem to recall a time when _you_ led them," she replied.

"Things change," he said, leading her into the cargo bay.

"Want to talk about it?" she asked teasingly.

Andros turned to face her briefly, deciding not to answer her after all. He could see that she enjoyed getting under his skin and he would not give her the satisfaction.

"You'll sleep in here," he said before opening a nearby panel and taking out some chains. "And you'll sleep in these."

"You don't trust me?" Astronema asked without a hint of insincerity in her voice.

Andros motioned for her to hold out her hands, locking the cuffs around her wrists and trying not to feel too guilty about it. "We trust you enough," he said, leading her to the edge of the room, several feet away from the cargo bay doors. "You're practically in the engine room right now and we trust that you won't do anything to kill us if you manage to break free of these cuffs tonight."

Astronema lowered her eyes as he chained her to a column along the wall, staring down at her handcuffs sadly and only looking up when she noticed the Red Ranger staring silently at her.

"You know," he began softly. "In the short time that you've been here, you've mentioned trust a lot. And you almost seem offended that we _don't_ trust you, maybe even _surprised_ that we don't. But I don't think that you trust us either."

"I trust you enough," she said, happy to throw his words back at him. "If I didn't, I'd have suggested that we search for the shards on _my_ ship. So I trust you enough to believe that you aren't taking me somewhere to be imprisoned or destroyed… But I'm not surprised that you don't trust me. I already know why you don't."

"I can't imagine that you wouldn't know," Andros replied, his face flushed as he began to grow angry in spite of the calm in his voice. "You worked with Darkonda, Tsukon, and Mirit. I'm sure that they bragged to you about what they did to my friends."

"Yes," she said. "But there was no victory in it."

"What do you mean?"

"Destroying the four weakest Astrorangers isn't anything to celebrate," she said with a shrug. "There were three of them and six of you. It already takes at least five of you to destroy one monster, so the outcome was expected. But if they had taken you and the Silver Ranger out as well, then they'd probably be considered almost as powerful as Dark Specter."

Astronema smiled a little at the frown on Andros' face. Upsetting him was too easy and kind of fun.

"You have no idea what we lost that day," Andros said through gritted teeth.

"Nothing that you couldn't wait to replace within the year," she shot back. "I'll bet you couldn't wait to get another girl in that Pink Astroranger uniform, could you? But I guess that you had to settle for yellow. And how perfect is it that she ended up like your last girlfriend?"

Andros turned from her and began to walk away from the cargo bay, but he stopped and turned back to her, resisting the sudden urge he had to unchain her and open the cargo bay doors.

"Why are you really here?" he asked, nearly shouting at her. "You've collected more shards than we have. You've been on Bromak-7 before and you could have forced Wan to tell you where to look next. Why are you here with us and our one shard? You say you don't want to use the Veo Prism to destroy the universe, so what do you want it for?"

"I'm here because I think that you'll use the prism," she said quietly, walking up to him slowly. "And you don't seem to understand how much you could change things just by adjusting one thing in the past. So that's why I'm here –to destroy the prism and keep the universe intact. And I can't rule over the universe someday if it gets destroyed. Dark Specter doesn't care if this universe is destroyed. He could teleport to another one and rule over it, but I doubt that he would take me or any of his other loyal subjects with him. Besides, even if he did bring us, I'm the Princess of Evil in _this_ universe and there's no guarantee that there won't be some other evil villainess in another universe or dimension that might be powerful enough to take that title from me."

"What makes you think that we would use the Veo Prism?" Andros asked.

"Maybe after hearing your friend Wan's little story, you might suddenly get the urge to use the prism to go back to that time when he fought with Zordon," she said with a shrug. "Maybe you'll stop him from changing things or maybe you'll join him in the battle, contribute more power to the Power Coins –anything you want… But my guess would be that you might use it to change what happened to the other Astrorangers. I already know from Darkonda that you and the Pink Astroranger had a relationship. And what better way to use the prism than to bring back the dead?"

"I would never use it," he said, glaring at her as she studied his expression.

"Of course not," Astronema replied. "But the temptation is there nonetheless, and that is the only thing that makes the Veo Prism as powerful as it is. Even if you really mean what you say now, and as long as the temptation is there, you're still a liar to me until the Veo Prism is destroyed."

"Then, let me throw some truth at you," he said, narrowing his eyes at her. "If you insult or continue to bring up the old Astroranger team, sabotage our mission, steal our shards, harm any of my friends, or ever mention Ashley to me again, then I'll –"

"You'll what?" Astronema dared him.

"I'll surprise you," Andros said menacingly, making Astronema frown. "You already know too much about me, so I'll let _you_ deduce what I'm capable of when I'm angry."

Andros walked away from her again, this time succeeding in leaving the room completely as he headed back to the bridge, where he knew that he would likely not be needed. But he knew that as long as he could stay busy, he could forget Astronema's words for a while. It did not matter that she was right about his desire to use the prism, he decided. And he was not certain that he believed her story completely about not wanting to use the Veo Prism at all. All that mattered was that they did not give Astronema or Dark Specter a chance to use them.

-0_0_0-

Astronema sat on the cold gray floor in the cargo bay, already tired from being on her feet for more than a few minutes at a time. She missed her seat on the Dark Fortress and knew that she would be missing her soft, comfortable bed pretty soon.

She looked down at her bound wrists and sighed. Ecliptor would have blasted the Red Ranger into another dimension for even suggesting that she be in chains and certainly for threatening her the way he did. She regretted not bringing him with her, but someone had to cover for her for a while. There was no telling whether or not Darkonda would return and, if he did, he would tell Dark Specter what she had done to him. Astronema shuddered at the thought. She really hoped that Ecliptor was good enough to fool Dark Specter.

In the meantime, she would have to get used to the Astro Megaship. She would have to eat what they gave her, sleep on the floor in chains… She was supposed to be helping them, not be a prisoner. However, she had agreed to comply with anything to gain their trust and such was the price that she had to pay. But the ship was so boring and she could not help pressing the buttons of the rangers. And even that was somewhat boring already.

She glanced around the room, pulling out with a sly smile from behind her a small white envelope. She had just barely noticed the corner of it sticking out from the Red Ranger's jacket pocket when he had turned to leave the room the first time and was not sure that her telekinesis would be steady enough to pull it out when he began to walk away. But it had been just steady enough for him not to notice and she had made him just angry enough for him not to see her take it.

She opened the flap of the envelope and pulled out the paper inside, tilting her head and squinting at the black-and-white image. After studying it for a few moments, she pushed it back inside the envelope and shrugged, deciding that it did not matter what it was a picture of. If the Red Ranger was carrying it around, then it must have been important to him. She wondered how long it would take him to realize that she had it. And she could not wait until he did.


	20. Chapter 20

Ch 20

Zhane walked toward his room, feeling kind of silly. After all, he had led a team of Astrorangers before and he should not have felt so out of practice with the new team. They considered him to be a great leader and they never hesitated to look to Zhane for answers, but something was different now. For whatever reason, he had not been able to give his teammates the answers they needed. And he knew that he only felt guilty about that because it was just about all that was left for him as a leader to do. Though, he knew that any answers that he gave would not necessarily satisfy the others rangers. So by the time he made his way to his bedroom door, he had thought of all of this and now felt a little silly. But only a little.

He opened the door, finding Cassie already there and sitting on the edge of his bed. He had expected her to talk to him that night, but after he and the other rangers had spent most of the night looking for a way to contact the planet of Juniya, he figured that she would head straight to bed. Yet, there she sat, her black hair cascading over her shoulders as her sympathetic and worried eyes suddenly smiled when he entered the room.

"Couldn't sleep?" Zhane asked, half-jokingly.

"I could ask you the same thing," she said as he sat down beside her. "You stayed on the bridge for a long time. I was just about to check on you."

"I'm okay, Cass," he said as sincerely as he could.

But it was not sincere enough for Cassie, who sighed softly and rested one of her hands on his. "What's wrong, Zhane?" she asked. "You haven't been yourself for a while. I thought you and Andros were okay now."

"We are," he replied. "I mean, I guess we are. We still have a truce, but it's not like we've really talked or anything."

"You've been holding back lately," she said. "Even with me, it's almost like you're somebody else most of the time or wishing that you were somewhere else. And then with the other rangers today…"

"I don't know what happened," Zhane said. "I just… I don't know. I know that I've already thought of at least a thousand things that I could've told them to make them feel better. Then, I wondered what Andros might've said… But for some reason, I just blanked."

"Because something's bothering you," she replied, watching him avoid her eyes. "Is it her?"

"Astronema?" Zhane guessed, shaking his head when Cassie nodded. "I just don't like that she's here and I don't know how we're supposed to trust her."

"And…" Cassie started.

"And what?"

Cassie gave him a knowing look.

"And… maybe I'm thinking about how I lost my last team to monsters disguised as humans," Zhane said with a sigh. "But why shouldn't I think about it? It's basically the same thing all over again."

"Except Astronema is human," Cassie pointed out. "It may not be too late to pull her back from becoming a monster."

"I think it _is_ a little too late for that," Zhane scoffed. "She's not going to change after spending a few days with us, Cassie."

"You think that we'll find the rest of the shards in a few days?" Cassie asked, raising an eyebrow. "If she's in this to the end, then we might have much longer than a few days to change that attitude of hers… and yours too."

Zhane stared at her in disbelief. "You really believe that can happen?" he asked her.

Cassie nodded. "After seeing the way Andros changed, I'm willing to believe that anyone can," she said. "And don't forget that Dimitria told us that our biggest hint would be on Kor'es. And Astronema's all that we brought back with us from there. I just can't help but think that maybe she's supposed to be here with us and that, in her own twisted way, she really feels like she's helping us."

Zhane rolled his eyes and shrugged. "I'm just not that optimistic," he said.

"You used to be," Cassie replied. "You once believed that a group of powerless ex-Turbo rangers could be Astrorangers and learn to run the Astro Megaship. And we were only able to learn _because_ you believed it."

"Come on, Cassie," Zhane said, releasing her hand and standing up from the bed. "There's a difference between believing in you guys and believing in the impossible. Astronema has a plan and she probably needs us or our shards for whatever it is. Why is it that the one time I have a bad feeling about something you have to…?"

He trailed off as he looked back at Cassie, lowering his eyes when he saw a glimpse of sadness in hers. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Cassie slowly stood up from the bed. "Go talk to him," she urged him, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek before she headed to the door. "End the truce and start your friendship back up. It's bothering you more than Astronema ever could and I… I want the old Zhane back for a while. It's been forever since I last talked to him."

_0_0_0_0_

Zhane took his time getting back to the bridge. With any hope, Andros would be gone by the time he got there. But when he reached the doorway, he could hear Andros inside exchanging goodbyes with someone. Zhane waited a moment before heading in, nearly running straight into Andros.

"I was just on my way to talk to you," Andros said with a smile.

"Really?" Zhane asked. "What is it?"

"I wanted to see how you would feel about heading to Earth," Andros said.

"Ashley woke up?" Zhane guessed, unable to help smiling a little at the thought.

Andros nodded. "Well, _waking_ up, anyway," he corrected. "The doctors told her parents that it might take a while before she's fully awake, but they're already starting to work with her."

"We really should focus on finding Kayn," Zhane said. "And Juniya isn't anywhere close to Earth."

"Neither was Bromak-7," Andros pointed out. "But we were able to communicate with Wan just fine. If Kayn is on Juniya, then we can find a way to communicate with him. Besides, we won't be on Earth for very long… I just want to see her."

Zhane studied his friend's expression a minute and began to think to himself, knowing that Andros was right and that they could probably all use a little break that did not involve the Simudeck. Even he had to admit that he wanted to see Ashley again.

"Well, it's not like we've changed course yet," Zhane began, still thinking through all the reasons that he should say no. "But you know that we're still several days away from her, even at Hyper Rush velocity, right?"

"I know," Andros said. "That's why I wanted to tell you now. The sooner we get on our way, the sooner we'll get there."

"Are you sure that you'll be okay with seeing her?"

"Of course, I will," Andros replied. "I told you how I feel about her, Zhane."

Zhane shook his head. "That's not what I meant," he explained. "Ashley's been in a coma for almost a month and a half. She may not look the same as she did when her parents took her from here. Her muscles are weakened from not moving for so long and she may not look… like Ashley anymore."

"You think that the way I feel about her will change because she looks different?" Andros asked incredulously.

"No," Zhane answered quickly. "But if you like her or even love her the way that you say you do, it may not be easy to see her like that. I _know_ it won't be easy to see her like that, especially if she can't talk to you or move. And it'll be much harder for you if she sees you and doesn't remember who you are… or anyone else. All I meant was that you might not want to get too excited about her waking up just yet… But if nothing else, when we get there we can decide whether or not we should take the morpher back with us."

Andros frowned. "What's wrong with you?" he asked.

"I'm just being realistic, Andros."

"Which is the one thing that I don't need from you right now," he fumed. "I need to believe that Ashley will be okay when I see her and you bring up maybe taking the morpher back… What's wrong with you?"

"Sorry," Zhane said quietly, looking away from him before turning around to leave.

"Hold on," Andros said, stopping Zhane in his tracks. "Didn't you come here for something?"

"Never mind," Zhane replied softly. "I think I've said plenty. Just set a course for Earth if that's what you want."

"Zhane, what's wrong?" Andros asked sincerely. "You've been this way since Ashley left and I'm sure that you're acting this way because of… my role in that, so just talk to me. We called a truce, but nothing's changed. So, what's wrong?"

Zhane sighed and turned back to him. "I don't know what I'm supposed to say to you anymore," he admitted with a shrug.

"Say whatever you want," Andros said, sitting on the edge of a console with a sigh. "Nothing you say could ever be worse than you not talking to me at all. I don't care if you lecture me or if you yell at me… just say _something_ to me."

Zhane let out another sigh, looking up from his hands and into his friend's eyes, almost sure that they were a color that he had never seen before.

"When Ashley was hurt, I hated you that day," Zhane slowly began. "And sometimes I pass by her empty room and I hate you all over again. You were reckless and stupid and she's in the hospital because of it… Everyone wanted me to take over as leader because they thought that maybe what happened on Onyx could've been prevented if I had been leading the team instead of you. But I'd been leading the teams since they came onboard because you weren't emotionally available to anyone. So, I already was the leader and Ashley was hurt anyway."

Zhane paused, surprised that Andros had not interrupted to say anything yet, only listening intently and nodding. He really had changed.

"Then, earlier tonight, the Veo Tech Rangers asked me what would happen to them once we found the prism," Zhane continued. "And I didn't know what to say. I even wondered what you might've said to them and I even thought that maybe I'm not in any condition to lead the teams. Like you said, the Veo Tech Rangers don't really need us in battle and all we do is run the ship. But they don't need us for that either… I feel like everyone's losing faith in me, including Cassie, and so am I. But I'm taking out all of that frustration on everyone around me and I guess that I really don't know why."

Andros watched as Zhane quickly wiped away a tear that had only just formed in his eyes. "Zhane, you…," he started, not even sure where to begin. "You're a great leader and I think that with Astronema here, you've probably been thinking about what happened with our last team. I know that _I've_ been thinking about it. But it wasn't your fault… It wasn't anyone's fault."

"I know," Zhane replied softly. "And I don't even think that's what's wrong with me. I might just miss being able to talk to my best friend every day. I have a new girlfriend and you have a relationship with Ashley's parents, but we don't talk about it. We barely talk at all and I admit that it's my fault… I just want to go back to the way things were before."

"I guess so," Andros said, meeting his eyes briefly. "But I don't think that we could ever get back to where we were. I think that once we start really talking again, you won't have changed at all. You'll be the same great guy. But _I've_ changed and, hopefully, for the better. We won't be the same as we used to be, but maybe that's a good thing. All we've done is fight for the past year and a half… I've actually been meaning to thank you for that, by the way."

"For yelling at you?" Zhane asked, lowering his eyes. "For turning my back on you?"

"For helping me figure out who I really am," Andros corrected him. "Without you behind me, I had to figure out on my own how to deal with my guilt… It was lonely sometimes, not having you to talk to, but I wouldn't have any friends here at all if you hadn't shut me out."

"And now, if I don't stop shutting you out, I'll probably _lose_ all of our friends," Zhane said.

"Official end to the truce?" Andros asked.

Zhane nodded. "And here's hoping that we won't ever have to make another one," he said.

"Well, how about I promise not to do anything really stupid ever again?"

"I wouldn't believe you," Zhane said with a smile. "Doing stupid things are pretty tempting… I doubt you have the willpower to completely reject every stupid thing that comes along."

Andros smiled back. "You're probably right," he laughed. "You're usually right about these things."

Zhane's smile slowly faded and he sat at the nearest station, spinning around in the chair once before facing Andros again.

"So, what would you have told them?" Zhane finally asked after a moment.

Andros thought for a minute, finally clearing his throat. "I'd have probably lied," he said, lowering his eyes. "We don't know yet if their power actually comes from the Veo Prism or if there are actually two separate sources of power. So, I'd have told them not to worry about the Veo Prism until we finish finding all the pieces. And I'd have told them that if their powers worked before we found the one shard we have, then they should work without the Veo Prism."

"That's a lie?" Zhane asked.

"Not a big one," Andros answered with a shrug. "But telling them not to worry is the lie, seeing as how we still don't know much about how their powers work. I mean, we could tell them the whole truth, but it's something that they already know. If the prism is destroyed and they lose their powers, then they go back to whatever lives they had before they got the Veo powers. Essentially, they go back to… nothing."

"Nothing," Zhane repeated. "I don't know if that's the best way to put it."

Andros shrugged again. "I've thought about that… a lot. If we were to suddenly lose our powers, with no hope of getting them back, what would _we_ do other than go back to nothing?"

"Why does it have to be 'nothing'?" Zhane asked. "It's not like we wouldn't find things to do with our lives."

"Yeah," Andros agreed. "But this is what we live for. Just like them, I think that being a ranger means more to them than maybe anything else in the world. And without it, anything else that they do will feel like nothing."

"Well, you said more or less what Cassie did," Zhane said, beginning to bite his thumbnail. "I don't know why I didn't think of it myself."

"I do," Andros replied quickly. "When you stopped giving _me_ advice, you stopped talking altogether. And after a while, you stopped being the most positive person on the ship."

Zhane took his thumb away from his mouth and sighed. "It seems that I've lost that title to you," he said.

"Maybe we should start sharing it," Andros suggested, extending his hand to Zhane and smiling when he shook it. "I'm not used to being the well-adjusted one yet."

"Well, you may have to bear it alone for a while longer," Zhane said, though he smiled back and pressed a few buttons on the console behind him. "It could take some time before I can get back to that place again. In the meantime, I've set a course for Earth, so unless we get distracted by something, we should get there in four days if we remain at Hyper Rush velocity the whole time, a week if we get distracted by something else."

"Thanks," Andros said.

"So, can I ask you something?" Zhane asked. "And I'm still not sure how sensitive a question this might be for you, but… what is it that you feel for Ashley?"

"I love her," Andros replied softly. "I don't know how, but I love her."

"And if she wakes up, remembers everything, and fully recovers? Then what happens?"

"I don't know," Andros answered honestly. "I'm not even sure how to bring up the way I feel about her. 'Hey, Ashley. I'm sorry that I almost got you killed. By the way, I'm in love with you and I have no idea why.'"

"I've heard worse," Zhane joked.

Andros laughed a little. "I don't know what I'm going to say to her or if she'll even like me back after what I did," he said, somewhat sadly. "I won't be completely crushed if she needs time or if she flat out says that she isn't interested. I'll be less prepared if she says yes."

"But if she says yes, then you'll have to date," Zhane replied wistfully. "Then, there's the first kiss and holding hands… Are you ready for that stuff all over again?"

"Are you kidding me?" Andros asked. "I barely did any of that with Arcadia. All she ever wanted was the occasional night away from the ship and – what?"

Zhane looked sad again suddenly and he shook his head at Andros' question, more than anything else, out of habit.

"What?" Andros asked again.

"You know that you can't do that with her, don't you?" Zhane asked, lowering his eyes.

"Do what?"

"You can't discuss Arcadia with Ashley or do any of the special things that you used to do with her," Zhane explained. "Unless you really don't want things to work out with her, I'd keep the Arcadia comparisons to a minimum."

"Oh, I know that," he replied. "The truth is that I haven't really talked about Arcadia since the Hammonds asked me about her and that was weeks ago. You said that Ashley was upset because I compared her to Arcadia before. I haven't even looked in the envelope in a while. I almost… "

"You almost forgot you had it?" Zhane guessed when Andros trailed off. "I can't seem to forget sometimes. I look at you sometimes and it hits me: you were almost a dad. I can't even imagine that right now… Then, I remember just as quickly that you aren't and I wonder if it hurts you to know that. I wonder if it hurts you to think about it anymore."

"Less and less," Andros answered softly, reaching into his jacket pocket. "It hurts more when I look at –"

He stopped suddenly, searching his pockets one by one, becoming slightly more frantic as he stood up and continued to look.

"You can't find it?" Zhane asked.

Andros shook his head, finally calming down enough to sit back down. "I must have… left it in my room," he concluded with a sigh, hoping that he really had. "But I really have gotten better about not thinking about it too much and about not looking at it. But when it's on my mind, I don't even focus on the fact that I would've been a father. All I can focus on is the fact that she didn't tell me. I remember her almost giving me that envelope days before Darkonda and the others got onto the Megaship. Since I'd known her, she had never been afraid to tell me anything… except that. And I guess I'll always wonder why."

"That's why everyone thinks that you'll use the Veo Prism," Zhane said. "They know how desperate you are to know the answers to questions like that, so they figure that the only way you can ever find out is to use the prism."

"Well, it's like Wan said," Andros began. "Its power is tempting, but it's just too dangerous a risk. You believe that I'd take a risk like that?"

"Like the one you took when you drank a strength potion?" Zhane asked with a smile.

"Okay, okay," Andros said. "Maybe I would've then, but I wouldn't now… The past is past, right?"

"Right," Zhane agreed, honestly able to believe that now. "The past is past."

_0_0_0_0

_Andros slowly opened the hospital room door, watching Ashley's eyes flutter open as he stepped into the room. But she did not turn her head to look at him, nor did she glance his way at all. She only stared up at the white ceiling, finally closing her eyes by the time he reached her bed. _

"_Ashley?" he called softly to her. Again, she did not respond, not even opening her eyes to look at the ceiling anymore._

"_Ashley," he began, sitting down by her bed. "There's so much that I want to tell you… But you have to wake up first. Ashley, please open your eyes and at least let me know that you're okay."_

_Ashley opened her eyes and turned to him with question marks in her eyes. The same question marks that Andros had been afraid of for the past month and a half._

"_Who are you?" she asked._

"_Ashley," Andros began, finally certain that there was nothing that he could really say in response._

"_I'm sorry," she said. "I do feel like I should know you… and I'm sorry that I don't. You seem really familiar to me though."_

"_My name is Andros," he replied. "You really don't remember me?"_

"_Andros?" Ashley repeated, batting her eyes a she tried to recall his face at another place and time. "I knew an Andros before I was hurt, but he was nothing like you. I don't even think that he would bother to come visit me. You remind me of him a little."_

"_Ashley, it's me," he said, putting his hand on hers. "Please, try to remember."_

"_I remember," Ashley said. "I was the Yellow Astroranger and I had just started living on the Astro Megaship. A Power Ranger named Andros was there, and you look like him, but you're different."_

"_He's much different," a familiar voice said from behind them._

_Walking up to them was a nurse, who smiled widely at them both as she began checking Ashley's blood pressure and other vital signs._

"_Arcadia," Andros said, standing up quickly from his seat as though he were hiding something._

"_Hey there, stranger," Arcadia replied with a wink, stopping what she was doing to take a good look at him. "You look better."_

"_Better?" Andros asked just before Arcadia pushed a thermometer into his mouth. After a moment, it beeped and she removed it, looking at it disapprovingly. _

"_What is it?" Andros asked when she did not say anything right away._

"_Still lovesick though," Arcadia replied, looking up at him sadly. "What do you think hers will say?"_

_Andros lowered his eyes. "If she doesn't remember who I am, I doubt that it'll say anything in my favor," he answered in a low voice._

_Arcadia looked back to Ashley and smiled at her, admiring her face as if she were staring at her own reflection. "She remembers who you were," she said. "She just doesn't know who you are yet."_

"_What?" Andros asked after letting the words swim around in his head for a minute. _

_Arcadia sighed. "You've changed a lot since Ashley was last awake, Andros," she said. "Of course, she doesn't know who you are now. You almost unrecognizable… Just give her a little time to get used to the real you, the 'you' that I fell in love with. Then, she'll probably do the same."_

_Andros looked back to Ashley, who still studied him carefully as she sat up. He looked back to Arcadia with a sigh and sat down again. "You know," he began, not sure that engaging her in further conversation was very wise at the moment. "I didn't think that I'd see you again… I was wondering if you might've been mad at me too."_

"_How could I be mad at you?" Arcadia asked, gently touching his cheek. "I needed to leave you alone so that you could realize your feelings for Ashley. I almost hoped that I _wouldn't_ see you again..."_

"_Because it would mean that I'm over you," Andros finished. "When you said that I was still lovesick, you meant for you, didn't you?"_

"_You tell me," she replied. "In the meantime, you'd better work on that speech of yours."_

"_Speech?"_

"_Yeah," she said, slowly backing out of the room. "The one you'll have to make after you tell her that you love her without knowing the reasons why."_

_0_0_0_0_

Andros opened his eyes, surprised at the brightness that met them. As his vision cleared, he realized that he was still on the bridge, leaned forward in his chair with his head resting back on a wall panel. Without moving, he glanced to his left, finding Zhane asleep in a nearby chair. Andros vaguely recalled talking to Zhane a while longer about Cassie and Ashley, but he did not remember falling asleep. He did not even remember being very tired.

He slowly lifted his head from the panel, the heavy feeling slowly fading as he sat up straighter in his chair. He turned his head quickly as he caught something hurrying away from the bridge. He stood up quickly and turned the corner, finding no one and nothing there. Andros walked to the Megalift, finding that it was stationary and had been for a while. Maybe he was losing it a little.

"DECA," he called out suddenly, wondering why he had not done so before. "Was there someone else on the bridge besides me and Zhane?"

"Astronema was briefly on the bridge before you awoke," she informed him. "She teleported from here when she realized that you were awake. She is currently chained in the cargo bay area."

"I knew it," Andros said, making his way to the cargo bay with a frown.

When he reached the room, he slowed down a bit, wondering if she would flat out deny having been on the bridge if he confronted her with it immediately. Or maybe she had planned for him to see her so that she could attack him while the others still slept. But she had not done anything to the rangers while they slept as far as he knew and he had not asked DECA if she had.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to give me some breakfast?" Astronema asked from her spot on the floor, interrupting his thoughts.

He wondered how long he had been standing in front of her. "You didn't find it on the bridge?" he asked sarcastically.

Astronema smiled slyly. "I wondered if you saw me," she said.

"What did you do?" Andros asked.

Astronema just shook her head. "What makes you think that I did anything to you?" she asked after a moment. "You told me yourself that if I managed to break free of these cuffs, then you trusted that I wouldn't do anything to kill you. Those were your words."

"I trusted you not to break free of them at all," Andros replied. "Now, what did you do?"

Astronema got to her feet. "I did what you should have been doing," she said. "If the controls hadn't been locked, I'd have changed course to Juniya. But I'm glad that I didn't because our former ranger, Kayn, is headed there now."

"What do you mean that he's headed there?" Andros asked. "How do you know?"

"I had Ecliptor contact Juniya," she explained. "We're in touch with a few interesting creatures there and he was able to connect me with them. And they informed me that Kayn is headed for Earth."

"Why?"

"They didn't give me a reason," she replied. "They only said that he seemed to be in a hurry. But it doesn't matter _why_ he's going as long as we get there before he leaves. We're already going there as fast as we can, so I'm sure that we'll get there in time to catch him in whatever he's doing."

Andros just stared at her, not sure if he was justified in his anger anymore. She had, in her own way, tried to manipulate the course settings, but she had given the rangers a new lead to follow as well. He still had a feeling that she was hiding something from him though, something that would justify his anger once again. And he was desperate to find a reason, _any_ reason, to be angry with her so that he could pass off his new duty as her wrangler to someone else for a while. One day was already more than enough.

"As much as I enjoy our time apart, I'd prefer it if you were escorted throughout the ship for a while," Andros told her instead, leaving his anger behind him. "Like I told you, we trust you _enough_, but not completely."

"On my honor," Astronema said, looking down at her chains. "Now that you know they really don't do much for me, can I take these off?"

Andros eyed her carefully before walking away from her, putting his hands into his pockets. "Cuffed or not, just stay in the cargo bay," he said. "Someone will bring you something to eat later on if you're hungry."

Astronema sighed softly and easily broke out of the chains, letting them drop loudly to the floor before sliding them behind her with her foot. She had hoped that the Red Ranger might have noticed that his precious envelope was missing. She was in the mood for the excitement that might cause. But he had probably not realized it at all just yet.

She paced back and forth for a while before finally deciding that she was still very much tired and laying back down on the floor. She reached behind her, where she had hidden the envelope by sitting and then standing on it when the Red Ranger had appeared. After a few seconds of trying to contact it, she sat up again, unable to find it at all. She stood up and looked on the floor where she had been, still unable to find it.

Finally, she stopped, recalling the Red Ranger's casual walk away from her as he placed his hands into his pockets. Astronema smiled a little, knowing that he had to have taken it the split second that she had dropped her guard.

He was pretty good, she admitted to herself. He was definitely good.


	21. Chapter 21

Ch 21

Astronema sighed softly as she heard approaching footsteps accompanied by lots of whispering. She had already figured that it would not be the Red or Silver Rangers' voices that she would hear in the morning. After all, the Silver Ranger hated her and the Red Ranger was probably angry with her for taking his precious envelope. And while she was still hoping that he would acknowledge it with a more noticeable reaction, the Red Ranger had already told her that it would be someone else bringing her breakfast. However, she had not expected to hear more than one voice.

After several more seconds of whispering, she finally heard the footsteps get closer, seeing three Veo Tech Rangers enter the cargo bay. Astronema looked up at them from her spot on the floor and smiled as the Pink Veo Tech Ranger set down a plate of food in front of her and backed away from it quickly.

"You're not afraid of me, are you?" Astronema asked teasingly.

"Afraid of _you_?" Kim scoffed. "Where'd you get that idea?"

"Well, you seem to have brought reinforcements," Astronema answered. "And it's not like you have to be here for very long. I don't need you to watch me eat or anything."

"As long as you're unchained, we aren't taking any chances with you," Tommy said. "Staff or no staff, you still have enough power of your own to do whatever you want –"

"And yet, I don't," Astronema interrupted. "I've been able to get out of those chains since they were first put on and I haven't done anything to anyone. Your ship is still intact and so are you… If there's anyone on this ship who can't be trusted, it's the Red Ranger."

"Because you think that he'll use the prism?" Adam guessed. "Andros has told us about fifty times that he won't use it and Dimitria didn't seem worried about him using it. And after talking to Wan, I can't imagine _why_ he would want to."

"He wouldn't," Kim said firmly, turning to look Astronema in the eyes. "We trust Andros not to use it and there isn't anything that you can say that will shake our faith in him or Zhane."

Astronema only smiled wider. "You can't even defend him, can you?" she asked. "If he has to keep saying that he won't use it, then it must be because he's been accused of it more than once by someone other than me. And there's a reason for that… I'll bet that he hasn't even bothered to tell you what's in that envelope he carries around. How can you trust someone who always carries around a secret?"

"We trust him," Tommy said. "We have no reason not to trust him. Whatever's in that envelope is _his_ business. He'll tell us when he's ready to.And even if he really might use the prism, we'll need someone more credible than you giving us that information."

"You rangers," Astronema said, shaking her head slowly. "You have way too much faith in goodness. It can't always prevail… Just ask the Silver Ranger. He's seen evil triumph as a result of that faith. He learned the hard way that being kind or helpful isn't always good."

"It _is_ good as long as you're not being tricked," Adam replied. "It wasn't Zhane's fault that the last team died. _Your _monsters took care of that."

"Darkonda was never _my_ monster," Astronema countered. "He just happened to be after the shards too. When I heard about his past with the Astrorangers, it sickened me. He went too far…"

The rangers exchanged glances.

"They just did what all you villains try to do," Kim said. "They killed Power Rangers. Isn't that what they were supposed to do?"

"Hurt them, yes," Astronema said. "Torture them, maybe. But killing the Power Rangers is just as pointless as letting Dark Specter destroy the universe… Without you, we can only fight amongst ourselves. Every villain knows how badly we need rangers. You force us to increase our power, to figure out different offensive tactics, and challenge us endlessly. That's why, eventually, the rangers must change their powers. We become stronger and so you must do the same… Circle of life, I suppose."

"Yeah, you use us as practice so that you can fight each other when you're powerful enough," Tommy said. "But you know that rangers' identities change all the time. You could kill us and go after the next group, so I'm not buying that you 'need' us."

"That's because you've never thought about it," she replied. "But if you did, you'd realize just how easy it would be for us to destroy you at any time. We just don't because we like the game."

"You expect us to believe that?" Kim asked.

Astronema shrugged. "Believe what you want," she said, beginning to pick at her food a little. "None of that will matter to _your_ team once I destroy the Veo Prism. After that, you'll go back to being nothing again just like before."

Adam, Kim, and Tommy glared at her a moment, finally deciding to say nothing as they turned away from her and walked away from the cargo bay.

"She's right, you know," Adam said when they were far enough away from the cargo bay.

"About what?" Tommy asked.

"We'll go back to being nothing again," he answered sadly. "If I lose this power, that's exactly how it'll feel –like I'm nothing because I'll be doing nothing."

"What's so bad about doing nothing?" Kim asked, though she did not sound so sure of the answer herself.

"Well, what are you two going to do when this part of your lives is over?" Adam asked. "Last time we talked, you said that you loved this."

"I _do_ love this, Adam," Kim said softly. "But between this and finishing school as a happily married woman, I'd leave being a ranger in a second. You don't want any of those things?"

"Of course I do," he replied. "But I want _this_ too. These morphers chose us to be their next protectors. We can't just let that power be extinguished forever… can we?"

"If we don't have a choice, then I guess we'll have to," Tommy said with a sigh. "I love this new power too. But it may be best for the universe if it doesn't exist anymore. Who knows what'll happen if anything gets changed again? As long as the Veo Prism exists, we face that risk."

"You don't think that we can –," Adam stopped, distracted suddenly by a searing pain in his wrist just under his morpher. He looked briefly to Kim and Tommy, who both seemed to share the same pain as they grasped onto their morphers, trying in vain to remove them to find the source of their pain. But the morphers would not move.

Not at all.

_0_0_0_0_

"What do you mean, she had it?" Zhane asked.

"She took the envelope from me at some point," Andros explained. "I found it in the cargo bay by her feet and I took it back."

"Do you think she knew what it was?" he asked.

"I doubt it," Andros answered. "She only took it because it was mine. If she bothered to look at it, she probably didn't care what she was looking at."

"Why would she do something like that when she keeps telling us to trust her?"

Andros shrugged. "Her idea of fun, I suppose," he sighed.

"Maybe you should tell her what it is," Zhane suggested after a pause.

"The last thing I need from her is pity," Andros said, shaking his head. "And I'm sure that it'll feel worse if she really _doesn't_ care."

"I think she'd care," Zhane said sincerely. "And maybe she'll think twice before using it for sport again… Maybe."

Before Andros could answer, the Veo Tech Rangers had all filed quickly on the bridge in front of them, clutching their morphers with what appeared to be fear in their eyes.

"Everything okay?" Zhane asked when they said nothing after a while.

Without a word, the rangers moved their hands from their wrists, still shaking somewhat with pain. Zhane and Andros leaned forward, staring for a long time at what appeared to be the Veo Tech Rangers' morphers sinking into their skin.

"What happened?" Andros asked after a minute.

"We were just standing around talking and it just… happened," Tommy explained. "We don't know what could've caused it."

"Astronema?" Andros wondered aloud.

"I don't think so," Rocky replied. "Aisha and I weren't even around her when it started happening."

"Maybe we should try contacting Wan again," Zhane suggested. "Maybe this happened to him."

"Good idea," Andros said, turning to the main viewing screen and pressing a few buttons. "DECA, connect me with Wan of Bromak-7."

"No connection available," DECA said.

"It was available yesterday," Andros muttered under his breath, trying every encryption code that he knew of to try to get into Wan's communication systems. A stray camera that he may have forgotten about, an audio system, anything.

"Can't get in?" Zhane asked from behind him.

Andros shook his head. "I'll try one more," he said, still clacking away on the keyboard. Seconds later, he smiled to himself. "Got it… We can at least get a visual on him if nothing else."

The rangers huddled around Andros at the station, looking sadly at the visual of who they could only assume was Wan. He was wearing clothes that were much too large for him at the moment and he lay sleeping on his side facing the camera, oblivious to the world at the moment… as an infant.

"I don't think he'll be able to help us," Zhane said with a sigh.

"Not in this form," Andros replied, shaking his head. "And it may not wear off for a while, so it looks like we'll be searching elsewhere for answers. But this doesn't have to be a bad thing, guys."

"How is _this_ a good thing?" Kim asked, pointing at her aching wrist with disdain.

"It means that your powers are binding with you," Andros said. "That's pretty rare… Our powers haven't even bound to _us_ and we've had them for years. We may never have that."

"Well, what's the difference?" Adam asked, suddenly not as concerned with the pain that had spread from his wrist to his arm.

"We're interchangeable," Zhane replied quietly. "Dozens of people are usually trained to take over if something happens to us. That hasn't really happened with the Veo Tech Ranger powers."

"So this is permanent for us?" Kim asked worriedly.

"Maybe," Andros shrugged. "Maybe Kayn can tell us more when we run into him on Earth."

"Any word yet on why he's headed for Earth?" Tommy asked, trying his best to keep his mind off the pain.

Andros shook his head. "If I had to guess, I'd say that he's interested in the Veo morphers," he said. "I just don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But he won't stick around for very long when he realizes that they're gone."

"How close are we?" Adam asked.

"At least four days," Zhane answered. "Hopefully by then we'll be able to talk to Wan again so that we won't have to wait for Kayn. In the meantime, has the pain stopped yet?"

"A little," Aisha answered.

"Then, we'll keep trying to contact someone who might be able to answer some questions about the Veo Prism," Zhane said. "You guys try to relax until we do. Work out on the Simudeck or something… But we'll keep trying."

The Veo Tech Rangers nodded and walked away from the bridge. No one said a word the whole way to the Megalift. What more could be said? The morphers had fused to them, telling the team without a word that they really were in this for the long haul. And as the thought hit each of them, they suddenly heard Kim begin to sniffle. By the time Tommy turned to her, her eyes had already spilled over with tears.

"What's wrong?" Tommy asked as she scrubbed at her face in frustration.

"I'm sorry, you guys," she said tearily. "I love fighting with you but I just can't do this for the rest of my life. I can't."

"Kim," Tommy began, not sure of what to say to her.

"I thought this was temporary," she continued. "I still want to go to school and get married and have babies. I can't do those things as a ranger… I can't do _anything_ as a ranger."

"Kim, it's okay," Aisha said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure this won't last forever."

"It already has," Kim said softly, walking away from them sadly.

Tommy followed Kim to the Simudeck, motioning for the others to stay in the corridor or at least away from the Simudeck for the time being. The others filed hesitantly into the exercise room.

Kim stood by the Simudeck's control panel, pressing a sequence of buttons that Tommy knew would cause about twenty quantrons to fill the room. Tommy stopped her before she could finish, placing his hand over hers gently.

"Kim," he began. "Why do you feel like our lives are over just because we're rangers? Why can't we go to school and get married and have babies with our powers?"

Kim turned around and looked him in the eye. "Tommy, I could barely juggle high school and being a Power Ranger," she said. "I'm lucky that I graduated at all and I'm sure that the only reason that happened is because I left my morpher behind."

"I don't believe that," Tommy replied. "But I understand not wanting to do this forever, I guess."

"No, you don't," she said. "When you said that you could do this for the rest of your life, I believed you… I could actually see _you_ doing this for a long time. But it's been too long for me already. I'm ready to stop, even if that means that you don't."

Tommy sighed. "What if we get married?" he asked after a short pause, watching her eyes flash with confusion at the sudden suggestion.

"We're already getting married," Kim said.

"Yeah, but I was just thinking," he started softly, taking her hand in his. "Since we'll be on Earth in a few days, we could just get married while we're there."

"Tommy," Kim sighed, though she smiled briefly at the thought. "Getting married won't change how I feel about this… There'd still be too many things that we wouldn't be able to do, even if we did."

"Like what?"

"Like being alone," Kim began. "That's something that we haven't had since we left home… We wouldn't have time for a real honeymoon, not as long as we're trying to find this Kayn guy."

"It shouldn't take all nine of us to find one person," Tommy said. "We could go to a Justice of the Peace when we get there and we could go back to our apartment –"

"You mean the one that we haven't made any payments on since we've been gone?" Kim interrupted with a smile.

"No, I mean the one our parents have been paying on since we've been gone," Tommy answered.

Kim lowered her eyes sadly. "Where do they think we are right now?" she asked.

"Taking part in peace negotiations overseas," he replied with a shrug. "It's not a total lie."

"But it's still a lie," she said softly. "How are you okay with that? As rangers, we're supposed to set an example for others but we lie to our teachers, to our parents… "

Now Tommy lowered his eyes. "I thought about telling them the truth a long time ago," he said with a sigh. "And I know they would have been understanding. I think they still would be… But we were told specifically by Zordon not to tell, so I never did. Besides, then I'd have to tell them everything I did as Rita's Green Ranger and I don't want to relive that."

Kim released his hand and hugged him tightly, waiting until his arms were around her before she spoke. "What you did back then was never your fault," she said. "And to be honest, I don't even think my parents would believe me if I told them. They'd probably think I was nuts or something. That's probably the only reason that I never bothered trying to tell them anything. Maybe it's better that they don't know what we do."

"Maybe," Tommy replied, sounding just as unsure as he knew she was. "So, it's still a 'no' on getting married?"

Kim looked up at him and smiled. "You really want to?" she asked.

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to," Tommy answered, looking into her eyes. "But the day that we say 'I do' is up to you."

"I don't know," Kim said honestly. "I want to marry you more than anything, but…"

"It's okay, Kim," he replied when she trailed off. "You have four days to think it over. Just let me know by then."

"I will," she said, releasing him and pressing the last button of the sequence she had begun on the Simudeck control panel. "Feel like working out?"

"Sure," he said, joining her in the center of the room. "You're still worked up enough to take on thirty quantrons at once?"

She nodded. "Forty quantrons," she corrected him with a smile. "Think I can't keep up? Or do you think you might not be able to?"

He smiled back. "Is that a challenge?" he asked.

"I'll get all twenty of mine down before you get your twenty down," Kim said, holding out her hand for him to shake. "What do you say?"

"I say that you severely underestimate my fighting skills, Miss Kimberly," Tommy answered, shaking her hand and looking up at DECA's camera in the corner of the room. "Make sure to time us separately, DECA."

"Time will start when the simulation begins," DECA said.

"Don't cheat," Tommy said as he stepped a few feet further from where Kim stood.

"I won't, if you won't," she said with a smile. "Start simulation."


	22. Chapter 22

Ch 22

Everything was happening so fast now.

After four days, Wan's age had not progressed from that of an infant, nor had they figured out anything new about the Veo morphers. The Veo Tech Rangers seemed less and less concerned about the morphers that were so deep in their wrists that only the triangular emblems were visible now. They had decided by the end of the first day that worrying would do nothing in their favor, so they said nothing else about it. After all, it did not hurt them anymore and Kim was much calmer about the whole situation now as far as the others could tell.

They had arrived in Earth's orbit a little sooner than they had expected, not too surprised that there had been no major distractions on their way with Astronema onboard. It seemed that she genuinely meant them no harm as long as they were willing to bring her along, though the Dark Fortress loomed ever closer behind them as they went along, practically matching their speed.

And every couple of hours, Astronema would wait for Andros to take her from one area to another, usually to the bridge. Only now, she could get no reactions from the rangers, not even the Silver Ranger. After some thought, she decided to focus on getting a different reaction from them, not one from annoying them. So, the rangers sat surprised at their stations, mouths practically hanging open when Astronema called them by their names one morning and again later that afternoon. And she would smile to herself as she left the room, knowing that she had received the response she had been hoping for.

After a quick scan from DECA, when Kayn had been confirmed on Earth's surface just outside of Angel Grove, the rangers decided not to split up on Earth just yet. They did not know anything about Kayn, other than the fact that he used to be a Veo Tech Ranger and that he was currently in the same area that Tommy had found the Veo morphers. And that was not enough to determine whether or not he would be willing to talk to them about the Veo Prism powers. Crowding him did not seem like a good idea and the rangers determined that maybe half of them should stay behind and monitor things from the ship.

By the time Andros, Zhane, Tommy, and Kim teleported to Angel Grove, they had figured that Kayn would be gone. DECA had assured them that Kayn had not been in Earth's orbit for long, but if he had been able to arrive so quickly, then maybe he would be able to leave just as quickly. But there he sat in the sand with his dark brown hair just barely touching the water behind him, looking up at them with his bright green eyes when they arrived and standing as though he had been waiting for them all along. As he walked to them, the rangers slowed their steps a little, still not certain with the serious expression on his face that he was not a threat to them. But he stopped a few feet in front of them, being the first of them all to speak.

"Hello, rangers," Kayn said. "I must first apologize for involving you in this. It was never my intention to allow the morphers to be used again. But I should have known that Earth was the wrong place to hide them."

"Why's that?" Tommy asked.

"The morphers would never remain untouched on a planet inhabited by as many humans as Earth," he answered. "But I was instructed to leave them there because Zordon would be on Earth to monitor them. Now Zordon is gone and humans possess the morphers once again."

"We're just glad that Dark Specter or Astronema didn't find them first," Zhane said.

"Yes, we can be thankful for that," Kayn said with a nod.

"Why were you waiting for us?" Kim asked him after a moment, looking at him carefully and noticing something very familiar about him.

"I sensed that the Veo Prism was nearing Earth," Kayn responded. "Instead of chasing after it, I assumed that it would likely come to me and then you arrived. Though I sense that not all of you are Veo Tech Rangers… "

"Just me and Kimberly," Tommy said.

"Yes," Kayn said, looking down at their morphers. "Red and pink. I see that the Veo powers have fused with you already."

"Already?" Tommy repeated.

"Usually, it takes anywhere from a couple of years to a few decades for that to happen," Kayn explained. "But I'm sure that you've noticed a similarity between the two of us physically. The morphers likely fused to your team because your energies and even your appearances mirror those that had the powers before you."

"I had noticed," Kim said, looking from Kayn to Tommy and back. "So the rest of us looked like the former Veo Tech Rangers and the morphers fused with us because of that? We've had the powers for a while… why did it wait to do that?"

"Once your power reached its maximum, your energies matched ours by enough to begin the fusion," Kayn answered.

"Do you mind if we ask you where the Veo Prism shards were hidden?" Andros asked.

"Earth, Bromak-7, Sylis-4, Kor'es, and Onyx," he replied softly as though he feared that someone else might be listening. "If the morphers have fused, surely you have all the shards of the prism with you?"

"No," Zhane said. "In fact, we had hoped to speak with you days ago about the location of the shards. We never found any shards on Earth; only the morphers."

Kayn smiled a little. "I suppose it is our fault for creating such chaos," he said with a sigh. "It was our hope that no one would ever find the shards or morphers. And we never anticipated that any new generations would not know the shards when they saw them."

"What do you mean?" Andros asked.

"To prevent others from being able to put the shards together, we placed pieces of the shards close to us," Kayn said, looking at the morphers again. "Even if Dark Specter had collected the shards from the other planets, he would never have them all as long as we had our morphers."

"These are the shards?" Kim asked, pointing at the only visible part of her morpher.

"We had the shards all along," Zhane said incredulously. "We might actually have the whole thing now."

"What made you come all the way out here?" Andros asked Kayn. "You only sensed the Veo Prism while you were already on Earth. But why'd you come to Earth at all?"

"I had sensed that the powers were being used," Kayn answered. "But I wanted to be certain, so I headed for Earth. It is not my intention to stay on this planet, nor was it my intention to distract your teams by coming here. If I have taken you away from a mission –"

"Our only mission was finding the shards," Zhane assured him. "You've saved us from roaming aimlessly around space for the next six months."

"Would you mind coming back with us on our ship?" Andros asked. "We wouldn't need you to stay very long, but you have information about the Veo Prism that we might be able to use. And there you won't have to worry about anyone hearing us."

"It would be my honor," Kayn said. "But even I sense that your ship was followed here by an evil presence. And I sense that you already knew that."

"The Dark Fortress is following us," Zhane explained with a sigh. "It's a long story, but it's okay… for now. You're still safer on our ship than out here in the open."

Kayn nodded. "I'm sure you are right," he agreed. "I will tell you anything that you need to know."

Zhane raised his morpher to his face. "DECA, teleport five," he said.

_0_0_0_0_

After an hour, Kayn's brief stay on the Astro Megaship had nearly come to an end. And in that time, the rangers had learned quite a bit about the Veo Prism, keeping Astronema far from the conversation as best as they could. Once the rangers learned that _all_ of the Veo Prism shards might be on the ship, there was an immediate nervousness that Astronema might do something with that knowledge. It was their hope that Ecliptor had not been listening in before Kayn teleported onto the ship, but they had no way of really knowing.

The question now was what they would do with Astronema now that they knew that they had all the shards. She had already made it clear that she would never give up her shards to the rangers and they would never think of giving her their shards, nor _could_ they as long as the Veo Tech Rangers' morphers held the remaining pieces in them. But they had decided as a group that she did not need to know just yet and the rangers intended to keep it from her until they could figure out how to get her shards from her.

"Oh, Wan," Kayn said softly to himself, shaking his head at the image of the baby boy on the screen in front of him. "You sacrificed greatly for this universe… I know that these rangers will fix everything we messed up."

"We don't think that you messed anything up," Adam said. "If anything, the universe was made better because of the Veo Prism. Dark Specter versus rule under Rita Repulsa wins in my book any day of the week."

"Until he rules your universe," Kayn replied. "And that possibility will always exist as long as he does and as long as the Veo Prism does. But your words have been kind, rangers. I have faith that you will use the powers well."

"Before you go," Kim began, looking down at her morpher sadly. "Is there anything that we can do about… this?"

Kayn smiled. "Your morphers will remain fused to you until you no longer need the power," he explained. "But you do not have the privilege of deciding that for yourselves. The Veo power will release you when it's ready and all you can do is wait until that day. But I can see that you need it much more than you want it right now. Eventually, the reverse will be true and you'll be released."

"What happens when that day comes and we don't want to give up our powers?" Adam asked, not bothering to look back at his friends.

"Then, you can either keep a power that has begun to reject you or accept that your time as its protector has passed," Kayn answered. "But I do not see that happening for you anytime soon."

Adam smiled a little to himself as Kayn gave a nod to Zhane, signaling him to teleport him to his ship.

"Good luck, rangers," Kayn said. "You will need it."

With that, he disappeared from the bridge, leaving the rangers standing there in silence. Finally, Cassie was the first to speak.

"So, what do we do now?" she asked. "Astronema's going to want to know what we learned from Kayn."

"I don't know," Zhane admitted. "While she's been much more bearable lately, I don't know what she'll do if she finds out that we have all the shards now. But she doesn't have access to any of DECA's cameras or audio anymore and she was in the engine room when Kayn arrived. DECA verified that she wasn't listening in."

"So, we're just not going to tell her?" Carlos asked. "I don't see what difference it'll make."

"That's the point," T.J. said. "We don't know what difference it'll make, so we won't tell her anything until we can at least be sure of what she might do with it."

"She said that she'd destroy the Veo Prism," Andros said. "You don't believe her?"

"I'd like to," T.J. replied. "But we can't know for sure that she isn't getting the shards for Dark Specter or Darkonda. If he didn't stay destroyed the first time, then Darkonda may already be looking for us or her."

"It'd also be nice if we could get the Dark Fortress to stop trailing us," Cassie said. "That's not making me any less nervous right now."

"We may not want that," Zhane pointed out. "We need to be sure that she'll _always_ have a way off the ship and if the Dark Fortress is nearby…"

"Well, she's pretty smart," Andros said. "She'll probably figure it all out within the week when she realizes that we're not heading toward any particular place."

"We could always go back to Kor'es," Rocky suggested.

"Actually, we could go to Onyx," Zhane said. "Kayn mentioned shards on Onyx, but I don't remember Astronema saying anything about finding anything there."

"In the meantime, I think I'll head to Earth," Andros said. "We can set a course after we visit Ashley."

"Yeah and we kind of had some things that we wanted to take care of while we were here, if that's okay," Tommy said, taking Kim's hand.

"Sure," Zhane replied. "We'll meet back here in a few hours… I'll stay here and keep an eye on things. You guys go and see Ashley. If she's able to come back, I'll see her then. If not, I'll call her from here before we leave."

"You sure?" Cassie asked, putting a hand on his.

Zhane nodded. "I'm not a fan of hospitals," he answered with a shrug. "Just tell her that I'm thinking about her and I miss her."

Cassie kissed him on the cheek. "Try to be good while we're gone," she said with a smile.

"I will," he said. "As long as Astronema doesn't talk to me, I will."

The rangers teleported then, appearing just outside of Angel Grove University Hospital. Inside, they followed Andros past the front desk and to the eleventh floor, where they found Ashley's parents and brother standing just outside one of the rooms. Andros walked up to them nervously, wondering if they would be upset with him for not calling them since the day that they had told him about Ashley waking up. But as soon as they saw him, they broke into smiles and Lynn hugged him tightly, releasing him only to hug the other rangers.

"We weren't sure when you would come," she said. "Ashley's awake now if you want to visit."

"Is she really okay?" Cassie asked slowly.

"She's fine," Doug assured them, prying his wife away from the rangers with a smile. "The doctors keep using words like 'full recovery' and 'remarkable', so we're optimistic."

All smiles, the rangers filed slowly into the room, not noticing that Andros had stayed behind. He glanced into the room when the door was open, hearing Ashley greet the others somewhat hoarsely, though he did not see her.

"Just go in," Eric said, nudging Andros toward the hospital door. "She's awake now."

"I know," Andros replied softly. "Was she…? I mean, she's okay, isn't she?"

Eric nodded. "I promise," he said. "If things were that bad for her, I wouldn't have even suggested that you come see her. She started waking up a week or two before we called you and she was fully awake and talking to us about a week later. And the doctors are so surprised that she's even awake at all, that she's sitting up on her own and talking… They told us not to expect any of that if she ever woke up. And they kept saying 'if' she wakes up."

"And she remembers what happened?" Andros asked.

"She says that she does," Eric answered. "We told her that we knew about the ranger stuff, but she won't really talk about the accident and we didn't want to force her. Maybe she'll talk about it with you."

"Will she even want to see me?"

"Of course, she does," Eric replied. "She wants to see all her friends… She told me not to tell mom or dad, but she wants to go back with you guys. And I don't think she's quite ready to. She's just barely steady on her feet and she's still got some physical therapy to do. But you go in and make that judgment for yourself."

Andros nodded, knowing that his anxiety would not go away until he actually saw her. And he waited patiently for the other rangers to file back out of the room before taking in a deep breath and walking slowly onto the room. He knocked on the wall as he peeked his head around a half-pulled curtain and waited for her to look up at him.

"Hey," she said, greeting him with a smile and sitting up straighter in her bed.

She was a little pale and her hair was a little longer, but she was still Ashley. The sweet smell that she had left behind her on the ship was even still there, making the room seem less sterile and cold than he knew it was.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"Like I'm not in a coma, so I can't complain," she replied, laughing a little. But her smile faded when Andros lowered his head. "I'm fine, Andros… really."

"You can't walk," he said quietly.

"Can so," she shot back, making him look up at her in surprise. "Maybe not as well as you right now, but I can stand and I can walk. I'm okay."

"No thanks to me."

"What happened to me wasn't your fault," she said.

"How can you say that?" Andros asked, shaking his head. "I started the fight and you got hurt trying to protect me."

"You'd have done the same for me," she replied. "And it wasn't your fault… Darkonda's the one that attacked me, not you."

"Well, thank you, at least, for saving my life," he said softly.

"You're welcome," Ashley said. "Like I said, you'd have done the same for me I'm sure… Well, I heard that quite a bit has been going on since then. What'd I miss?"

"What'd you hear?" Andros asked somewhat sadly, stopping just beside her bed.

"Rumor has it that you went crazy and caused some damage later that day," Ashley said. "Heard you almost got yourself killed… I even heard that you might've missed me a little."

Andros lowered his eyes as his cheeks reddened.

"You don't have to admit it," she went on. "My family's been telling me that since before I was awake, I think. Either that, or I dreamed it."

Andros kept his eyes lowered and said nothing.

"Andros, what's wrong?" she asked after a moment. "I was just teasing you."

Finally, he met her eyes, his own glistening with tears. "Why are you… ?" he began. "Why are you being so nice to me? I thought you might've hated me."

"Why would you think I –" Ashley started, stopping when she suddenly remembered the few days prior to Onyx and how distant and quiet she had been. "Oh… Andros, I didn't hate you."

"I guess it would be like asking me why I hated you," he said with a shrug. "I never did, but it probably felt like it to you, right?"

"Sometimes," Ashley answered softly. "The truth is that I _did_ look in the envelope… and I saw the picture."

"And you felt sorry for me when you found out what it was," Andros finished, not able to maintain eye contact as long as tears stung them.

"No," Ashley said with a sigh. "I felt sorry for myself… I already knew what it was when I first saw it. I had seen one before… when a doctor handed _me_ one."

"You were –" he began, slowly letting her words hit him as he sat down in a chair and pulled it closer to her bed.

"It was a couple of years ago," she started, her voice just above a whisper. "I wasn't a ranger then. And I made a mistake and spent four months feeling sicker than I had ever felt in my whole life. When I finally went to a doctor, they told me that I was pregnant. I don't even remember being scared… I didn't want to tell anyone. I figured they'd be disappointed or mad. I didn't even tell the father."

"Why not?" Andros asked, hoping that her answer might shed some light on Arcadia's decision not to tell _him_.

"Because if I had told him and he had decided that he didn't care, I knew that it would've just destroyed me," she answered tearily. "And maybe two and a half weeks later, by the time I was tired of feeling all alone and ready to tell them, I lost the baby… I don't even know why it upset me so much. It's not like I had time to get attached and I didn't want or need a baby then. But it tore me apart and I never told anyone about it… except you. I guess what I'm trying to say is that when I saw yours, it brought back so many memories that I thought I had already dealt with."

"I'm sorry," Andros said, putting his hand on hers.

Ashley wiped away a tear with her free hand and sighed. "It's okay," she said. "It felt good to talk about it. I'm just sorry that I didn't tell you then. Maybe it could've spared us both some sadness."

"Maybe," he agreed. "To be honest, Ashley, there's quite a bit that I've been meaning to tell you since that day. The right words just wouldn't come… I also know that you saw what Arcadia looked like."

"Yeah, I did," she said. "That was kind of rough. I didn't expect to see so much of myself in her. All I could think about was that seeing me must have hurt you a lot. To see your fiancée, your best friend, and to see her face on me… "

"That's what I thought it was," he interrupted. "Why I was so angry with you all the time… I used to see her when I looked at you and I thought that I was angry because you weren't her when I looked again. But I know that I was just angry with _her_ –for fighting that day, for not telling me about the baby, for wanting to keep anything from me, and for not living through it to tell me why. And I took it out on you because I saw her in you. But you stopped looking like her to me a long time ago and I haven't seen you as Arcadia since Bromak-7, I think."

"I wish that she hadn't hurt you so much," Ashley said, now putting her hand on his. "But she and I still have something in common… We both care a lot about you."

Andros looked from their touching hands to her smiling eyes and he smiled back at her, noticing within moments that her face was getting closer to his. He blushed again and lowered his eyes again.

"Ashley," he began.

"I'm sorry," she said, blushing a little herself. "It's just nice to know that you know how to smile. I don't know that I've seen one from you like that before."

"Ashley," he tried again, clearing his throat and finding himself flustered again when he looked up to find Ashley just as close to him as before. "Do you feel sorry for me?"

"No," she replied softly. "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know," he replied with a shrug. "I guess that I just don't understand why you liked me in the first place."

"I've liked you since the first time you actually talked to me," she said, thinking briefly about that night. "I watched you working in the space hatch and we had a conversation that didn't end with you getting angry with me… I knew I liked you then."

"I think I liked you then too," he said, remembering the night fondly. "I think I would've even kissed you that night. That's why I pushed you away."

"Then, what's stopping you now?" she asked. "Do you feel sorry for me because I'm in this bed?"

"Of course not," he answered, distracted a bit by her large, beautiful brown eyes. But he hoped that the truth would be reflected in his the way it was in hers. "I just wasn't prepared for you to do anything like that. Like I said, I figured you'd wake up hating me."

"The truth is that I've wanted to do this for a long time," she told him, her lips already lightly brushing against his a little as she rested her forehead on his and stared up into his eyes. "I'm just sorry that I never said anything."

"You wanted this after the way I acted?" he asked.

"I knew it wasn't the real you," she said, smiling again. "But I can already tell how much you've changed since I last saw you, Andros. And if this is all too fast for you, I understand… I know that you probably still have feelings for Arcadia."

"Arcadia's gone, Ashley," Andros said, feeling a weight lift from his shoulders just from saying it aloud. "I just never imagined that you could ever feel this way about me… But it's just a kiss, right? It's not like we're moving that fast."

Ashley nodded slowly. "Right," she said. "It's only a kiss. It doesn't even have to mean anything else."

"But it will," he countered, nervously looking into her eyes again. "It'll mean everything."

"I'm counting on that," she replied. "But I only want this if you do."

"I do –" he managed to get out before she leaned forward again suddenly and he found his lips locked with hers.

In that moment of tasting her lips, he knew all of a sudden what that intoxicating scent was that Ashley carried with her. It was strawberries and he could say with complete sincerity that he had never wished so much to keep such a sweetness on his lips before. Not surprisingly, the sweet taste he craved did not seem in a hurry to leave his lips at all, her soft lips gently massaging his. She did not seem to mind the discomfort of leaning over the bed's side rails to get to him and he seemed to not notice until Ashley lost her balance a little and their noses crushed against each other briefly. Ashley giggled and he was surprisingly left without embarrassment or anxiety.

He just smiled and continued their kiss a while longer, finally stopping to move the side rail aside to sit on the edge of her bed, just holding her close to him. She sat up straighter and rested her head on his shoulder, holding onto his hands as though it were the only thing keeping him with her. And in the seconds that he had stood to sit on her bed, she _had_ feared that he would leave.

So in the moment, somehow knowing that she felt what he felt, Andros knew it would be the right thing to say and he said it, not caring if she was able to return his words.

"I love you, Ashley," he whispered, feeling her squeeze loosen a bit in surprise.

"What?" she asked just as quietly.

"I love you," he repeated, his heart beating a little faster when she said nothing for a moment. But he felt her smiling against his shoulder and he relaxed, even smiling a little himself. "But you don't have to say it back… I just wanted you to know."

"I want to say it back," she replied with a sigh. "And I know I will. Just not today… I'm sorry."

Andros shook his head, still smiling and glad that his heart did not sink upon hearing her response. "I just wanted you to know," he repeated, feeling her grip his hand a little tighter but not feeling any pity from her. And he was glad of that too.


	23. Chapter 23

Ch 23

Tommy sat in the grass, staring out silently at the shimmering water of Angel Grove Pond from a nearby hill in the park. He almost felt guilty going there without Kim, but the water calmed him more than she could at the moment. He had left her to talk with her parents as she had kindly asked him more than an hour ago, wondering what she could possibly have told them that she did not want him to hear. And it hurt a little, but he had a feeling that she would eventually tell him about it. She always did.

But the hurt immediately went away as the slow churn of the water against the wind began to soothe him. He smiled to himself as his eyes landed on the spot where he and Kim had shared their first kiss. He smiled wider as he immediately recalled the memory of her scent that day, the taste of her lips, and the smile in her eyes as he slowly pulled away from her. It had not been so long ago, he realized, yet it seemed so distant from the present. Now there was talk of marriage, babies… They had certainly come a long way from their moment at the pond.

He had proposed to her here, standing in the exact spot they had stood then, except it had been during the night and a warmer wind had swayed the pond water. But the same nervousness that had set in when he had kissed her there the first time resurfaced then too and he had recalled only half of the things he had wanted to say to her. But once the question had come out and she gently told him that she would marry him, that moment of nervousness had left him as well.

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by the gentle touch of a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and smiled, finding Kim standing behind him.

"How did I know I'd find you here?" she asked, draping her arms around his neck from behind and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"I guess you just know me too well," Tommy answered, resting a hand on hers as he glanced at his watch. "It didn't take very long for you to talk to them."

"It took long enough," Kim sighed, moving from behind him and sitting on the grass next to him. "I only asked you to leave because I knew that once I told them everything, they'd want to fight and I know how much you hate being around that."

Tommy stared at her a moment, suddenly understanding what she meant. "You told them… everything?" he asked. "_Everything_ everything?"

Kim nodded. "Ashley's parents know about her and they were pretty okay about it," she began. "And I know Zordon told us not to tell anyone, but they're my parents. They're paying for our apartment while we're gone and they don't even know where we've really been. I've wanted to tell them for a long time."

"And they took it pretty well?" Tommy asked, calming down a bit. After all, there was no real reason that their parents should not know. There was an element of danger that would accompany it, but not enough for them to be constantly kept in the dark.

"They still found a way to fight," Kim said, rolling her eyes. "I figured that they'd fight as soon as I got them in the same room together. It's not a new concept for me. I just hate it when they do that."

"What could they have possibly fought about?"

"Oh, at first they were proud of me," she explained. "Then, they started arguing over who was prouder and who deserved to be prouder. _Then_, they argued over whether or not they should be upset that I had been lying to them for so long about it. After that, I just left. I don't even think they noticed… It's like I just can't win with them."

Tommy lowered his eyes. "I know how that can be," he said.

"Was that for me?" she asked.

"Was what for you?"

"The comment, Tommy," she answered. "Are you mad at me?"

"No," Tommy replied, though he had to think about it a little. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"Well," Kim began, scooting closer to him as she pretended to think hard about a reason. "I think that at least one of us had their hearts set on getting married this afternoon."

Tommy turned to her. "Are you really going to joke about this?" he asked somewhat testily.

Kim's smile faded. "You _are_ mad at me," she said, starting to get up to leave. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"I know," Tommy sighed, his own features softening as he took her hand and gently pulled her back toward him. "I'm not mad at you, Kim. I promise… But I'd have married you today and it just hurts a little that you didn't want to."

"I never said that I didn't want to marry you, Tommy," Kim said. "I _do_ want to marry you… just not today. Do you even remember why you asked me in the first place?"

"I remember," he said softly. "I know I didn't ask you to marry me today for the right reasons, but when I proposed here –right here –it was because I loved you. And I still do."

"I know you do," she said. "And I love you too. But I really want to wait."

"I respect that," Tommy said with another sigh. "But can you at least tell me why you want to wait or at least how long we should wait?"

"I don't know, maybe until it's more than just a piece of paper to you," Kim answered, raising her voice a bit in frustration.

"How can you say that?" Tommy asked, shaking his head to himself. "When we get married, it'll mean more to me than 'just a piece of paper'. Do you really believe that it won't mean something deeper to me?"

"If it means so much to you, then why do you want to rush into it so badly?" she asked, surprising him a little. "How could it mean anything when you want it over so fast that you'd be willing to go to a Justice of the Peace for ten minutes to do it? We only get one wedding, Tommy… Just one."

"I know that," he replied. "I didn't mean to make you feel like I was rushing you into anything. And I really do respect your wanting to wait. It's just that I didn't think that all of that stuff mattered to you… I guess I just really don't know you like I used to."

"You know me just fine," she assured him. "I remember telling you once that it didn't matter where we got married or when, as long as we were man and wife at the end of the day. I think I may have even told you that the night you proposed, so it's no wonder you thought that it didn't matter how we got married. I didn't mean to snap at you."

"I still should know you better than that."

"Well, it's been a while since we've really talked about us," she pointed out. "We don't get much time alone anymore on a ship of ten people. I'm not surprised that we lost a little of each other somewhere along the way… "

"Do you think there's any way that we can get back to the way we were?" he asked, gently squeezing her fingers.

"Talking helps," she said. "We'll get back to normal and maybe we'll get married then. But I know if we rush into marriage right now, we'll only regret it."

Tommy nodded as he began to understand a little. "Your parents didn't happen to 'rush' into marriage, did they?" he asked, already knowing what her response would be.

As he expected, Kim nodded. "They only dated for six months before my dad proposed," she explained. "They got married ten months later and they've been miserable ever since… I just don't want that to happen to us."

"You and I could never be miserable with each other, Kim," he said. "We're not your parents."

"It wouldn't bother me as much if my parents claimed that they were never really in love," she sighed. "What scares me is that their relationship used to be a lot like ours started out. They were really in love with each other. We're not like them now, but we _could_ end up like that… And maybe it's kind of dumb for me to think it, but I don't want to take any chances on that happening to you and me. I don't want to hate you."

She looked up at him then, tears in her eyes as she finally rested her head on his chest and let a few of them fall down her cheeks. Tommy could not think of anything to comfort her and instead chose to hold her silently, deciding that it was better than nothing.

"Just wait for me a little longer, okay?" Kim asked him, her face still buried in his shirt. "Please?"

"We'll get married when it feels right for both of us," he said, stroking her hair. "In the meantime, we won't let their mistakes become ours. And you have to promise me that you won't let their silly fighting keep taking your smile from me."

"I promise," he heard her say softly, feeling her smile against him before she lifted her head. "But I always save a smile for you."

Tommy smiled back at her. "Well, look at that," he said, wiping her tears away. "You saved me a good one today."

Kim hugged him and let him hold her a while longer, losing track of time as they continued to sit there silently, wishing that they could sit there forever.

_0_0_0_0_

"Again, Ashley," Andros said, preparing his palm for another of Ashley's punches.

Only upon Ashley's insistence had they begun a short round of training, if for no other reason than for Ashley to prove to him that she was capable of returning to the Megaship with him. However, as Andros had expected, she still did not appear to be ready yet. Her punches lacked the force that he had seen behind them once before and as she began to tire, he could hardly call them punches anymore.

But he had not had the heart to tell her just yet, not when she was so determined to prove him wrong. And she continued to hit his hands with all the might she had with Andros encouraging her all the while.

"One more time," he said just as she began to back off a little.

"Can't," Ashley said, panting a little as she struggled to catch her breath and eventually sat down in the chair by the hospital bed.

Andros put down his hands, hoping that his expression would not prematurely tell her how badly she was doing. Perhaps not bad, but not good at any rate.

"We can try again in a minute," Ashley said, catching his look before it changed. "I just need to catch my breath for a second."

"It's okay," he said, leaning against her bed and folding his arms. "We don't have to keep going."

"You think we shouldn't?" Ashley asked.

Andros sighed. "You're just… not ready yet," he said simply, hoping that it would not be too much of a blow for her. "In time, I _know_ you'll be ready, but not today."

"No, it'll be today," Ashley said quickly, standing up again and shaking her hair away from her face. "We'll go again in a sec."

"Ashley," Andros began again, taken aback by her reaction. "I –I know you don't want to hear this, but… I really don't think it'll be today. You've got a lot of physical therapy to get through before you can get all your strength back. But the ship leaves tonight, maybe tomorrow if I can convince Zhane. But you still won't be able to –"

"Yes, I will," Ashley said, lifting Andros' hands and exposing his palms as she prepared to start again.

"Ashley," he started, dropping his hands and taking a step toward her.

"Hold your hands up," she said, backing up a little.

He sighed and held up his hands, watching her fist connect with one and then the other. There was a little more of a sting when she struck now, but not much stronger than before. He knew that she would not dare look into his eyes, already aware of the look on his face. And though he tried hard to hide it, there was still an ounce of pity that surfaced.

"No encouraging words?" Ashley asked him after a while.

"I've got plenty of them," Andros said, still waiting for eye contact from her and receiving none as she continued to strike at his hand. After a few more hits, Andros clasped his fingers around her fist when she struck again, holding onto it tightly.

"Andros, let go," she said, trying to pull her fist away.

But Andros said nothing and held onto it, finally getting a look of concern from her.

"Andros, let go," she said again, trying to pull his fingers up with her other hand.

"Am I hurting you?" he asked, knowing the answer already.

"No," Ashley replied.

"Well, we're sparring, Ashley," he reasoned. "Show me that you can get out of this and I'll have no choice but to let you go. But you're going to have to make me."

Ashley kept struggling, determined to free her hand. "Andros," she began once more.

"Ashley, do you even remember this?" he asked her softly. "Fighting with Tsukon on Onyx, you ran at him and he caught you just like this… Now my grip isn't nearly as strong as a monster's might be, but you should still be able to get out of it the same way you did then. In fact, it should be easier."

"I can't," she muttered quietly.

"If you want to come with us today or tomorrow, you have to," he replied. "It's a basic hold that I've seen you get out of before."

"I can't, Andros," she said louder, making him jump just enough to loosen his grip on her. "Isn't that what you want me to say?"

"Of course not," he sighed, dropping her hand. "But lying to me and your parents about being ready to come back with us isn't going to work. And _I'm_ not going to lie to _you_ either."

"So you're just going to give up on me?"

"No, I'm not giving up on you," he said quickly. "But if I bring you back and something happens to you, I'll never forgive myself… I can't have that on my shoulders too."

"I'm a Power Ranger, just like you are," she argued. "If something happens to me, it'll be my fault and my responsibility not yours. You already said that you want me to come back –"

"I want you to come back more than anyone," he interrupted. "But if you can't come back at full strength –"

"Did you really come here expecting me to be at full strength?"

"No, I didn't expect that," Andros said, lowering his eyes. The truth was that he had suspected that Ashley might not be able to return with them. But he had pushed the thoughts from his mind, deciding that he should be more thankful that she was alive. As she had pointed out, she had just come out of a coma and he knew that there was no amount of physical therapy that she could do between now and even the end of the month that might completely restore her speed and strength.

"Then what do you want me to do?" she asked, beginning to get teary. "This is the best I can do right now. And I know you didn't come here to kiss me like that just to leave me behind."

Andros reached for her hand, gently pulling her closer to him as he looked into her eyes.

"No, I didn't come here just to leave you," Andros sighed. "I came here to bring you back with us and… I'm going to. There isn't a lot of time to figure out how to…"

Ashley watched as Andros paused and smiled thoughtfully, bringing a smile to her own face. "What is it?" she finally asked him.

"I have an idea," he said, stepping back from her as he continued to think. "If Zhane can give us until tomorrow, I'm almost sure you'll be okay enough to come back to the ship. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner."

"You're 'almost' sure?"

"Well, it's just an idea," he said. "If it works, you won't have to lie to me or anyone about being strong enough to come back."

"And if it doesn't work?" she asked sadly.

"Then, I'll… I'll stay here with you," Andros answered. "That's what I should've done in the first place."

"Andros, I could never ask you to stay here with me," Ashley said, though she smiled a little at the thought. "How would that be fair to you?"

"It won't be fair if you have to stay," he replied. "At least, either way we can still be close enough to see where that kiss will lead us."

Ashley smiled and took his hand again. "Well, I trust you," she said. "And I know my parents do too. They'll believe you before they believe me anyway… Just tell me what I have to do."

"For now, just stay here," Andros said. "And I'll be back in a little while."

_0_0_0_0_

Zhane stood on the Simudeck, wiping the last bit of sweat from his forehead with a sigh. He tried to remember the last time he had been able to train on the Simudeck using that particular program, determining that it must have been several months ago. It was a great way to test his reflexes and help him develop more advanced moves, but it was brutal on his muscles no matter how well he stretched prior to the exercise. And so he decided to take a break, knowing that going through the program more than twice might hurt him worse.

He slid down the nearest wall to the floor, still trying to catch his breath as he sipped from the water bottle he had laid there several minutes earlier. As his breathing became steady, he wondered if Ashley was okay, and whether Andros was okay if _she_ was not. There had been no word from Andros or the others at all in the past two hours, nor any disturbances that DECA could sense, so he assumed that they were all fine on their own.

"DECA, where is she now?" Zhane asked, looking annoyedly at DECA's camera as he ran his hand through his hair.

"On Megadeck 5," DECA answered immediately. "Shall I begin containment procedures?"

"No, I'll get her," he said with a sigh, getting up from his spot on the floor. "Just keep an eye on her until I get there."

DECA had informed him several moments earlier that Astronema had asked to be escorted to the bridge, but Zhane had scoffed at the request, asking DECA to inform Astronema that there was no business for her to conduct on the bridge as long as they were in Earth's orbit. He had expected to receive a response from her, but was left surprised when DECA told him that Astronema had no response to his retort and that she was sitting silently in the cargo bay. Now, still silent, she had made her way through the ship, moving from the workbay to the bridge and presently to the Astrorangers' sleeping quarters. It was not until now that DECA seemed concerned about whatever the Princess of Evil was up to.

So Zhane hurried to the Megalift, hoping to catch her in the act of doing whatever she was doing, though he could not imagine what Astronema might be doing in their bedrooms. The Megalift doors opened and he stepped inside, shaking his head as he reached over to press the button that would take him to the right Megadeck.

"You okay?" Zhane heard from beside him, making him jump. He turned his head to see Andros standing beside him, wondering how he was able to walk into the Megalift without noticing his friend.

"More or less," Zhane answered. "Is Ashley okay?"

"More or less," Andros replied. "Where are you headed?"

"M-5," he said. "Astronema's been walking around the ship for a while now. DECA didn't seem worried about it until now though. I figure that she might be looking for the shard we found."

"Maybe," Andros said, though he did not look as if he really thought so. "Why don't you let me handle her? I actually came here to ask you for a favor anyway."

"What is it?"

"I need one more day," Andros said, receiving a sigh from Zhane as the doors opened on Megadeck 5. "And I need you to take the muscle accelerator to Ashley's room. I was looking for it, but I couldn't find it."

"The muscle accelerator?" Zhane repeated. "It's in the exercise room, but you know that it might not –"

"I know," Andros interrupted. "Please, Zhane. I just want to try it."

Zhane sighed again, nodding at him as the doors closed. "_One_ more day," he said firmly. "Just one."

Andros nodded in understanding and gratitude, starting down the corridor that led to the bedrooms. He already knew where he might find her and as he approached his bedroom, he heard the faint sound of movement from behind the door. When the door opened, he looked around to see that she had done a significant amount of damage to his room, leaving his clothes and even his bedsheets strewn all over. But Astronema was nowhere to be found.

"DECA, locate Astronema," he ordered, wondering if she might have also been able to teleport away from the Megaship. He hoped that she had gone back to the Dark Fortress, but he doubted that she would get fed up and leave after just one week.

"Astronema is currently on the bridge," DECA informed him after a few seconds. "All kiosks and controls are locked as preventative measures, unlocking only on your command."

"Thanks, DECA," Andros said, sprinting from the corridor to the Megalift. He waited anxiously for the doors to open on the bridge, wondering what Astronema might be trying to do as well as trying to figure out what might have happened to make her so upset.

Finally, the Megalift opened to the bridge and Andros cautiously walked inside, looking around for Astronema. After looking around the bridge for a minute or two, he closed his eyes as he heard a faint and unfamiliar sound from behind him. There was nothing close by for him to defend himself with that was easily accessible and if she was actually behind him, then she would likely strike him before he would have a chance to reach for anything.

Andros opened his eyes and spun around as the sound repeated itself, finding Astronema's staff pointed in his face.

"I thought you left that on Kor'es," he said, holding his hands up in surrender and hoping that would be enough to calm her down.

"You thought what I wanted you to think," she replied.

"You were in my room," he said as he slowly reached into his jacket and held up the envelope with his name written on it. "Were you looking for this?"

Astronema frowned.

"I guess I already know the answer to that," Andros said, matching her frown with his own when she did not respond. "My next question is: _why_ are you looking for this? You want us to trust you, but you –"

"I don't care about your stupid gray picture," she interrupted angrily.

"Then, why were you in my room?" Andros asked.

"I don't owe you any explanations," Astronema nearly shouted. "For the past several days, I've done what you've asked of me as though I actually answered to you. I've slept on the cold floor without complaining and I've eaten whatever you've fed me without issue. But I won't ignore betrayal."

"Betrayal?" Andros asked, thinking a moment. She could not have heard their conversation with Kayn. DECA had assured them that she had not. Even if she had, too much time had passed for her to become angry about it now. Besides, as far as he knew, she had not been angry prior to going into his room.

"Were you hoping to get to me?" she asked.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, putting the envelope back and studying her face carefully for any signs of jesting. But her anger appeared very real, her cold eyes studying his expression for similar signs.

"Did you think that it would be funny?" she growled. "At least, tell me how you did it."

"Did what?" he exclaimed, sighing before lowering his voice. "Look, Astronema...just tell me what you think I did."

Astronema seemed to think for a second. "Don't think you can trick me," she said anxiously. "Whatever your little plan is –"

"Astronema," Andros interrupted, immediately regretting it when she stepped closer with the staff. "What is it that you think I tried to do to you?"

"I took your stupid envelope out of boredom," she said, pressing the end of the staff against his chest. "You obviously got it back from me. But you took your revenge too far… No one takes from me unless they want to get hurt. Now, I won't ask again. Tell me how you did it. How did you get to my locket to duplicate those pictures?"

"I didn't take anything from you," he protested. "There's no way that I could take something like a locket without you noticing. Besides, why would I –?"

Andros stopped as he began to understand. He looked down at his own locket and glanced over at the one that was draped around her neck.

"Duplicate pictures," he said to himself before looking back up at her. "You're talking about the pictures of the boy and girl in my room, aren't you?"

Astronema continued to stare daggers into him. "I should destroy you where you stand for doing such a sick thing."

His frown faded and he slowly brought his hands to his locket, keeping his eyes on her as he did so. He carefully opened it, revealing to her the photos inside.

Astronema looked down at his locket, her hands gripping the staff tighter. "Your tricks won't work, Red Ranger," she said.

"I wish it _was_ a trick," he said with a sigh. "My mother gave me this when I was five years old. She also gave one to my sister. The little boy is me and… I think that the little girl is you."

"Your sister?" Astronema repeated softly, loosening her grip a little though her frown remained. "Don't play games with me… You'd know your sister if you saw her."

"No," Andros said, lowering his eyes a moment. "I wouldn't. My sister was kidnapped from a park when we were children and… I never found her."

"Kidnapped," Astronema said, closing her eyes briefly as she suddenly remembered standing alone in an open field and screaming as someone or something grabbed her. The memory had haunted her before, but she had never bothered to ask Ecliptor or Dark Specter about it. After all, what good would it do for her to learn the details of her past? She had been taught to leave the past where it was and so she did. But if the Red Ranger _was_ her brother, would that really change everything now?

"What difference would it make?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "Even if you _were_ my brother, it wouldn't change anything. You and I will still be enemies."

"Maybe," he replied. "But it'll change everything for me… See, I never gave up trying to find my sister. And knowing that she's been alive and healthy all this time… It would at the very least be one less thing for me to wonder about for the rest of my life."

Astronema seemed to be thinking, but she said nothing in response and Andros wondered if knowing the truth might change everything for her as well.

"Would you remember your old name if you heard it?" Andros asked as she began to lower her staff a little. "If I say it first, then you'll know that I'm telling the truth."

Astronema closed her eyes again, waiting for him to speak.

"My sister's name was Karone," Andros said, looking carefully at Astronema for any signs of recollection. "Does that sound familiar?"

"Karone," Astronema repeated, just as she remembered the name that distantly called out to her in the park that day. That was the name that he always called out in her dreams. She finally lowered the staff completely, her arms beginning to grow tired. Besides, she could at least admit to herself that she no longer had any intentions of hurting him.

"You remember, don't you?" Andros asked as his eyes began to fill with tears. "You remember being Karone…"

"I remember," she replied quietly, though still a little wary of him. "I remember my brother… But why was your name so unfamiliar to me?"

Andros smiled to himself. "When we were kids, you never called me anything except 'brother'."

Astronema watched him carefully, looking at the tears in his eyes as though they might be live ammunition and taking a step back from him.

"Well, what happens now?" she asked after the awkward silence between them seemed to get more awkward. "You're not going to hug me, are you?"

"No," Andros replied, wiping his eyes quickly on the back of his hand. "We're not quite there yet… But if you want to talk, I'll be around."

"Maybe later." Astronema nodded and turned to leave the bridge, stopping a moment to look over her shoulder at him. "We don't have to tell the others, do we?"

"I guess we don't have to tell them yet," he said with a shrug. "But if you change your mind, I won't be ashamed to admit it."

Astronema turned back to the Megalift. "I wouldn't be ashamed to admit it now," she said. "But until your friends start to trust me, maybe it would be better to keep it to ourselves. I already know that they had trouble trusting _you_ and they might stop trusting you again if they think that I'm trying to influence you to be evil or something."

Andros nodded, though he knew she could not see it. "We can wait," he said. "When we start trusting _each_ _other_, we'll be ready then."

"Yes," she agreed as she boarded the Megalift and the doors started to close. "We'll be ready then… brother."


End file.
